academic achievement and attitude

i

REFLECTIVE-RECIPROCAL TEACHING STRATEGY ON STUDENT TEACHERS’

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE.

BY

GBEMISOLA MOTUNRAYO OJO

Submitted in accordance with the requirements

for the degree of

MASTER OF EDUCATION

In the subject

DIDACTICS

At the

University of South Africa

Supervisor: PROF M M VAN WYK

DECEMBER 2015

ii

DECLARATION

I declare that this dissertation entitled, “REFLECTIVE-RECIPROCAL TEACHING

STRATEGY ON STUDENT-TEACHERS‟ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND

ATTITUDE TOWARD ECONOMICS” is my work, and that all the sources that I have

used or quoted have been indicated and recognized by way of complete references.

iii

DEDICATION

This research work is dedicated to God the Bishop and the Shepherd of my

soul and to my children Samuel, Shalom and Sharon.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My appreciation goes to God Almighty.

To my amiable supervisor, Prof.M.M.Van Wyk, for his support throughout my

Master‟s program.

To my lovely husband, every day I love you more. You have supported me all the

way through. I am fortunate to have you as my husband.

I also need to recognize the support of my parents growing up with you in my life has

made all the difference.

I also need to recognize my brothers and sisters, Mr. Joseph, Dr.Afolabi, David

Adedokun, David Adee, SidonyTanku, Dr.Mattew Dr. Stephen Oluyemi, and Andrew

Maoupe for always being there.

The Dean and Head of department of the colleges used for this study are all dully

acknowledged.

And to everybody, I say thank you.

v

ABSTRACT

Economics as a subject is one of the sciences that is required for any nation‟s

development, but its teaching and learning has not being easy, which has resulted in

poor student achievement. In search of solutions, this study has considered the

reflective-reciprocal teaching technique and investigates its effectiveness on student

teachers‟ academic achievement and attitude in the subject. Four Null hypotheses

were formulated to guide this study. The study adopted the quantitative method of

inquiry, using specifically a pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design. Three

Colleges of Education out of 22 federal Colleges of Education in Nigeria were

purposively selected based on certain criteria to be the sites for the study. The

sample for the study consisted of 178 second year Economics student teachers; the

participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a control group.

The pre-test scores of the participants was obtained using achievement test,

numerical ability test questionnaire.

Participants in the experimental group were exposed to six weeks of teaching using

the reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy while participants in the control group were

exposed to the traditional method of teaching. The quantitative data collected was

analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of proportions, frequencies, means

and standard deviations, independent t- tests and paired t-tests to compare

differences between two groups, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and ANOVA for

repeated measures. The Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) aspect of ANCOVA

was used to determine the magnitude of the performance of the groups.The findings

of the study show that there exists a significant difference in the achievement of

student-teachers in Economics when taught using reflective-reciprocal teaching

strategies compared to the conventional method.

Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that Economics student

teachers should make effective use of reflective-reciprocal teaching strategies in the

classroom in order to further enhance the achievement of their students in the

subject. In addition, the Federal and States Ministries of Education should encourage

the use of the reflective-reciprocal teaching strategies by organizing workshops for

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educational trainers and teachers to better equip them in the use of thereflective-

reciprocal teaching strategy. The use of reflective-reciprocal teaching strategies

should be encouraged in other teaching subjects as well.

Keywords: Reflective-reciprocal teaching, reflective-reciprocal peer tutoring strategy,

student teachers, skills, achievement in economics, student attitudes.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ........................................................................................................... ii

DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... iv

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ vii

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... xi

LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xii

LIST OF ACRONYMS .............................................................................................. xiii

CHAPTER 1 : ORIENTATION OF THE STUDY ........................................................ 1

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Statement of the problem .............................................................................. 5

1.3 Aim of the study ............................................................................................ 7

1.3.1 Specific objectives of the study ............................................................... 7

1.4 Research questions ...................................................................................... 7

1.5 Hypotheses formulated for the study ............................................................. 8

1.6 Scope of the study ........................................................................................ 9

1.7 Research design and methodology ............................................................... 9

1.7.1 Quantitative research ............................................................................. 9

1.7.2 Data collection instruments ................................................................... 10

1.7.3 Method of data analysis ........................................................................ 10

1.8 Significance of the study ............................................................................. 10

1.9 Chapters layout ........................................................................................... 11

1.10 Definition of terms .................................................................................... 11

1.11 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 13

CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 14

viii

2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 14

2.2 Theoretical framework underpinning this study ........................................... 14

2.2.1 Constructivist theory ............................................................................. 14

2.2.2 Social cognitive learning theory ............................................................ 15

2.2.3 Reflective learning theory ..................................................................... 17

2.3 Strategies of teaching ................................................................................. 21

2.3.1 Reflective Teaching .............................................................................. 22

2.3.2 Reciprocal teaching .............................................................................. 24

2.3.3 Steps for the establishment of reciprocal education ............................. 28

2.3.4 Cooperative learning activities .............................................................. 28

2.4 Teacher efficacy perspective....................................................................... 31

2.5 Models of reflective practice ........................................................................ 34

2.5.1 Argyris and Schon‟s model of reflective teaching ................................. 34

2.5.2 Characteristics of a reflective teacher ................................................... 37

2.5.3 Approaches to the use of reflective teaching ........................................ 37

2.5.4 Benefit of reflective teaching ................................................................. 38

2.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 39

CHAPTER 3 : RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .................................. 40

3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 40

3.2 Research paradigm or philosophy ............................................................... 40

3.3 Methodology................................................................................................ 41

3.3.1 Quantitative research ........................................................................... 42

3.3.2 Characteristics of quantitative research methodology .......................... 43

3.4 Research design ......................................................................................... 43

3.4.1 Quasi-experimental design ................................................................... 43

3.4.2 Variables in the study ........................................................................... 44

3.5 Selection of participants .............................................................................. 44

ix

3.6 Instruments ................................................................................................. 45

3.7 Research procedure .................................................................................... 47

3.8 Method of data analysis .............................................................................. 49

3.9 Piloting of the instrument ............................................................................. 50

3.10 Ethical considerations .............................................................................. 50

3.10.1 Informed consent ............................................................................... 50

3.10.2 Protection from harm ......................................................................... 50

3.10.3 Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity ............................................... 51

3.11 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 51

CHAPTER 4 : PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ............................ 52

4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 52

4.2 Characteristics of the sample ...................................................................... 54

4.3 Data analysis of the economics instrument ................................................. 55

4.3.1 Reliability of the questionnaire .............................................................. 55

4.3.2 Descriptive analysis of the questionnaire.............................................. 56

4.3.3 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA): Validity of the instrument ................ 58

4.4 Economics attitude scale: independent t-tests and paired t-test ................. 60

4.4.1 Independent t-test to determine performance by group ........................ 60

4.4.2 Paired t-test to determine difference of pre-test and post-test

achievement tests by group .............................................................................. 63

4.5 ANCOVA to analyze achievement test scores ............................................ 66

4.5.1 ANCOVA results with group as fixed factor .......................................... 67

4.5.2 ANCOVA results with mode of entry as fixed factor ............................. 69

4.5.3 ANCOVA results with group, mode of entry and numeracy ability as

fixed factors ....................................................................................................... 71

4.5.4 Independent test to determine performance by mode of entry ............. 73

4.6 Summary and conclusion of the chapter ..................................................... 74

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CHAPTER 5 : SUMMARY, DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, LIMITATIONS,

RECOMMENDATIONS AND AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ....................... 76

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 76

5.2 Summary of chapters .................................................................................. 76

5.3 Summary of main findings ........................................................................... 76

5.4 Findings ...................................................................................................... 79

5.4.1 Research Question 1 ............................................................................ 79




5.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 82

5.6 Recommendations ...................................................................................... 82

5.7 Limitations of the study ............................................................................... 83

5.8 Further studies ............................................................................................ 83

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 85

LIST OF APPENDIXES ............................................................................................ 93

APPENDIX A1: Economics Attitude Questionnaire .............................................. 94

APPENDIX A2: Student Teachers‟ Achievement Test in Economics ................... 97

APPENDIX A3: The raw scores of 20 students of Bodija High School ................. 99

APPENDIX B1: A consent letter to Economics student-teachers‟ Lecturer ........ 102

APPENDIX B2: An informed consent form for Economics student-teachers‟

Lecturer .............................................................................................................. 104

APPENDIX B3: A Consent letter to second year Economics student-teachers .. 105

APPENDIX B4: Consent form for the student-teachers ...................................... 107

APPENDIX C: Results of analysis ...................................................................... 108

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Adaptation of the Argyris and Schon Double Loop Learning Model ....... 34

Figure 2.2: Schon‟s concept of reflection-in-action and Reflection-on-action Kolb‟s

Reflective Model ................................................................................................. 35

Figure 2.3: Kolb‟s reflective model ........................................................................... 36

Figure 4.1: Histogram and box plot showing age of students ................................... 55

Figure 4.2: Confidence interval error bar showing differences in post-test

achievement tests by group ................................................................................ 62

Figure 4.3: Confidence interval error bar showing differences in Economic attitude

score by group .................................................................................................... 62

Figure 4.4: Confidence interval error bar showing differences in pre-test by mode of

entry .................................................................................................................... 63

Figure 4.5: Confidence interval error bar showing mean differences by group ........ 65

Figure 4.6: Confidence interval error bar showing mean differences by group ........ 66

xii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: EACOA Achievements in Economics from 2010 to 2012 .......................... 5

Table 1.2: FCE OYO Achievement in Economics from 2010 to 2012 ........................ 5

Table 1.3: FCE Abeokuta Achievement in Economics from 2010 to 2012 ................. 6

Table 4.1: Hypotheses tested ................................................................................... 52

Table 4.2: Characteristics of the students ................................................................ 54

Table 4.3: Summary statistics of age in years .......................................................... 55

Table 4.4: Level of agreement on attitude statements on Economics ...................... 56

Table 4.5: Rotated factor solution of attitude attributes on Economics ..................... 59

Table 4.6: Independent t-tests to determine difference in means of the tests by group

............................................................................................................................ 61

Table 4.7: Independent t-tests to determine difference in means of the tests by mode

of entry ................................................................................................................ 62

Table 4.8: One sample t-test of the differences ........................................................ 64

Table 4.9: T-tests to determine difference in means of the differences by group ..... 64

Table 4.10: T-tests to determine difference in means of the differences by group ... 65

Table 4.11: Testing assumptions of equal slopes of ANCOVA with group as

independent variable ........................................................................................... 67

Table 4.12: Analysis of covariance to analyse achievement test scores with group as

a fixed factor ....................................................................................................... 67

Table 4.13: Testing assumptions of equal slopes of ANCOVA with mode of entry as

independent variable ........................................................................................... 69

Table 4.14: Analysis of covariance to analyse achievement test scores with mode of

entry as a fixed factor .......................................................................................... 70

Table 4.15: Testing assumptions of equal slopes of ANCOVA with group, mode of

entry and numeracy ability as fixed factors ......................................................... 71

Table 4.16: ANCOVA: Effects of treatment, mode of entry and numerical ability on

students‟ achievement in economics .................................................................. 72

xiii

LIST OF ACRONYMS

JAMB: Joint admission matriculation board

NCE: National Certificate in Education

RT: Reflective Teaching

RT: Reciprocal Teaching

RPT: Reciprocal Peer Tutoring

WAEC: West Africa Examination Council

ANCOVA: Analysis of Covariance

FRN: Federal Republic of Nigeria

CTI: Conventional Teaching Instructions

ANOVA: Analysis of Variance

EAQ : Economics Attitude Questionnaire

MCA : Multiple Classification Analysis

EFA : Explanatory Factor Analysis

FCE : Federal College of Education

EACOED: Emmanuel Alayande College of Education.

1

CHAPTER 1 : ORIENTATION OF THE STUDY

1.1 Introduction

Based on the researcher‟s experience as a lecturer in a College of Education for

many years she observed that student teachers seem to need a reflective-reciprocal

teaching strategy. Her view is that the current method used seems not to be effective

which ultimately affects student teachers‟ ability to teach economics in the

classroom.

The researcher sought to investigate the impact of the reciprocal teaching strategy

on student teachers. Student teachers are expected to behave as leaders in the

classroom and expected to pass on their own subject knowledge to pupils.

Some researchers have exposed reflective-reciprocal teaching as a viable

alternative strategy to teaching Economics. Literature on that matter is replete in the

field of education. However, many teachers have failed to implement the reflective-

reciprocal in teaching of Economics. It is against this background that this study

sought to assess the impact of reflective-reciprocal teaching on student teachers‟

attitudes towards Economics and the extent to which they model the right attitude to

Economics learning.

The teaching and learning of Economics in secondary school has been

characterized by diverse changes (Baumol& Blinder, 1991; Jephcote, 2004).This is

crucial for a subject as important as Economics. Economics is a dynamic subject

dealing with current and future problems; it touches everyone‟s lives closely; it is

concerned with people and is therefore a very suitable subject to study at all levels

(Walstad& Becker, 1994). It is significant to everybody and not just economists. It

involves opportunity cost every time we make a decision, for example, in deciding

whether to have more leisure time or to work overtime. It is also essential to

individuals in making decisions that can maximize their satisfaction; to business

organizations in maximizing profits; and to governments in providing a high standard

2

of living for their citizens. Economics also touches future issues such as alternatives

to sources of energy when oil is depleted and how people‟s lives may be affected.

Given this significance, teaching Economics can be defined as a process through

which young people obtain knowledge and acquire skills that contribute to the

creation of wealth and to the contentment of human needs and wants (Baumol&

Blinder, 1991).However, Becker (1997) noted that the field of Economics has placed

too little value on the significance of teaching in recent decades and Economics

teachers are not keeping up with progressive change nor moving away from the

conventional teaching method of “chalk and talk”.Ogunsola-Bamidele (1996)

remarked that this method of “chalk and talk” is the most ill-treated of all teaching

methods and not helpful in many respects; hence, there is a need for more engaging

methods of instruction to boost students‟ interest and achievement in Economics An

evaluation of the literature on Economic education suggests that Economics as a

school subject together with how it is taught and learnt appears very much under-

researched in many parts of the world (Jephcote, 2004; Walstad, 2001).Little

attention has been given to the development of teaching and learning of Economics

in recent decades (Walstad, 2001, Becker, 1997). The available confirmation from

the last few years shows that passive learning based on traditional methods of “chalk

and talk” seem to be the most broadly used teaching methods, characterizing the

20th century style of Economics teaching (Becker& Watts, 2001; Benzing& Christ,

1997; Siegfried, Saunders, Sonar & Zhang, 1996).

Concerns have been raised over of the years concerning the impact of teaching

methods on students‟ attainment, and there are criticisms of a lack of knowledge and

skills among the secondary school graduates and their incapability either to apply

school knowledge to real life situations, or to converse effectively in

workplaces(Becker, 1997).Although there have been many research studies on

teaching and learning processes over the past century, there have been no

significant improvements in the teaching and learning of Economics in our schools.

These research studies show that there is no single common instructional strategy

that is effective with all learners in all situations (Haigh &Katterns, 1984; McGee

&Penlington, 2001; Westwood, 2006).

3

Being a lecturer at College of Education, the researcher can say that many student

teacher education programmes present students with theoretical information and

assume that this will be sufficient to prepare them to obtain practical knowledge in

their initial years of practice, leading eventually to a state of expert professional

knowledge. Our most wanted outcomes will not be achieved unless considerable

changes are made to student teachers‟ education programs, for example by

incorporating reflective-reciprocal teaching strategies.

Brownlee,Purdie and Bouton-Lewis (2001)state that helping student teachers to

know and learn more effectively would enable these future teachers to encourage

similar learning outcomes in the school children for whom they have responsibility.

Several factors (such as learners‟ intent, poor mathematics background, qualitative

nature of Economics, unhealthy teacher-student relationship, infrastructural

provision, government factors, areas of policy making to mention but a few) have

been adduced to be responsible for this trend. A major factor to be considered is the

instructional strategy used in teaching the subject at the National College of

Education (NCE) level. This is more so as those strategies are not based on self-

construction of knowledge, self-assessment and social interaction among learners.

As a result of the nature of Dynamics which is a mathematically oriented subject in

Economics, teachers need to be reflective and explore cooperative teaching

strategies for teaching it.

Many instructional strategies have been developed and found useful in economics.

Examples are collaborative group strategies for student teachers (Adedigba, 2002),

reform-based instruction (Barak &Shakhman, 2008), self-regulation strategy

(Arsal,2010) and Predict-Observe-Explain strategies (Babajide, 2010) to mention a

few. In spite of all this hard work towards improved teaching strategies, the

performance of students is still very low since all these impressive methods do not

translate into use by classroom teachers some of whom find it difficult to accept the

paradigm shift. The researcher is of the view that if these improved teaching

strategies are emphasized and used in training student teachers, they will master

innovative teaching strategies in the course of their training and find it more

convenient and easy to apply when they are in the field practicing as teachers.

4

Every teacher has an ethical and moral obligation to assist all students to realize

their full potential (Orlich, Harder, Callahan, Trevisan, Brown & Miller, 2010). It is,

therefore, imperative to create room for further search for instructional strategies that

canappeal to and stir learners‟ interest and at the same time help to attain the

objectives of economics education. To achieve preferred educational goals, teachers

are required to make use of reflective-reciprocal teaching (RRT), reflect on their

teaching goals and how these interface with the demographics and abilities of their

students. This procedure will, according to Clarke (2007), allow the teacher to clarify

their knowledge base, the content, and their students‟ learning styles and crystallize

the pedagogy to be implemented. A way of doing this is through reflective teaching.

Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about

why you do it, and thinking about if it works or not. It is a process of self-observation

and self-evaluation. It is a means of professional development which begins in our

classroom. It is paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which

inform everyday action, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively (Bolton,

2010).

Another variable of interest in this study that affects students‟ achievement is the

mode of entry into the National Certificate in Education (NCE) programme. The

mode of entry into the NCE programme is in two forms: the direct entry handled by

Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and preliminary studies handled by

the colleges of education. The direct entry which is handled by joint admission is for

students that have five credits in West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), while the

preliminary studies handled by the colleges of education is for those students that

have less than five credits in WAEC.

The numeracy ability of the Economics student teachers is another variable of

interest which affects students teaching of Economics. Numerical ability is the

capacity of a person to argue with figures and to calculate mentally. Economics as a

subject was only theoretical before the introduction of the new Economics syllabus

which incorporated some elements of Mathematics into the subject. The situation

has been posing serious problems for students in Senior Secondary School classes

partlyas a result of the carry over effects of the negative attitudes which they have

towards Mathematics and ineffectiveness on the part of the teachers. The researcher

5

sought to investigate the effect of the reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy on

student teachers‟ academic achievement in Economics. The researcher also looks

into the moderating effects of mode of entry and numeracy ability on their

achievement and attitudes in Economics.

1.2 Statement of the problem

There are concerns, complaints and comments from different stakeholders regarding

the academic achievement of Economics student teachers in Colleges of Education

in Nigeria. The researcher, through her experience as an Economics lecturer

observed that the number of Economics student teachers who are making progress

in their academics has been decreasing recently.

Student teachers‟ poor performance in economics has been an issue attracting the

attention of researchers and educators in Economics. Their ineffectiveness is as a

result of low student-teacher interaction. Adu and Ayeni (2004) are of the view that

students‟ failure to ask questions and use of the lecture method were identified as

the main cause of poor achievement in Economics. Their study demonstrated that

the achievement of candidates in Economics is not only poor generally but continues

to fall over the years. Below is the statistics of the three colleges result between

2010 and 2012(Table 1.1).

Table 1.1: EACOA Achievements in Economics from 2010 to 2012

Source: OODF (2013)

Table 1.2: FCE OYO Achievement in Economics from 2010 to 2012

CANDIDATES 2010 2011 2012

Total wrote 105 111 120

Total achieved at 40% + 30 35 41

% Achieved at 40% + 28 32 34

Source: OODF (2013)




% Achieved at 40% + 27 29 30

6

Table 1.3:FCE Abeokuta Achievement in Economics from 2010 to 2012




% Achieved at 40% + 30 35 39

Source: OODF (2013)

Tables 1.1 – 1.3 show how the student teachers are failing. Although there is an

increase in the pass rate between 2010 and 2012 but still low.If it continues like this

how will student teachers be able to teach Economics when they get to the

classroom as a professional teacher? What could be the problem? Is it that they are

not mathematically good or that they are not attentive enough in the classroom?

Could the teaching strategy be the problem? The researcher is of the opinion that

teaching strategy is one of the ways through which effective learning can be

achieved. ? Economics as a subject was only theoretical before the introduction of a

new Economics syllabus which incorporated some elements of Mathematics into the

subject. The situation has been posing serious problems for students in Senior

Secondary School classes somewhat as a result of the carry over effects of the

negative attitudes which they have towards Mathematics and ineffectiveness on the

part of the teachers. Researcher is of the opinion that teaching strategy is one of the

way through which effective learning can be achieve. Researcher is of the opinion

that the current teaching strategy seems not good enough for student teachers at

college of education.

Previous researchers have focused on various strategies such as reform-based

instruction, self-regulation strategy, collaborative learning, and hands-on activities as

a means of improving student teacher‟s achievement in economics. However,

student economics teachers‟ achievement in the subject has not given satisfactory

results. Hence the current study aimed to measure the impact of reflective-reciprocal

teaching strategy(RRT) and conventional teaching instruction strategy (CTI) on

second year economics student teachers „achievement and attitude towards

Economics.

7

1.3 Aim of the study

The aim of this study was to measure the impact of RRT and CTI on second year

Economics student teachers „achievement and attitude towards Economics.

1.3.1 Specific objectives of the study

This study aims at achieving the following research objectives:

To measure the impact of RRT on student teachers‟ academic achievements

and numerical ability toward Economics;

To determine if there a statistically significant difference in the academic

achievement in Economics scores of second year Economics student

teachers taught using RRTcompared to those taught using CTI;

To find out how RRT affects the attitude of student teachers exposed to the

RRT strategy compared CTI in Colleges of Education; and

To establish if mode of entry affects academic achievement and attitude of

Economics student teachers at Colleges of Education.

1.4 Research questions

This main question will be answer by researcher:

How does a reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy impact on student

teachers‟ academic achievement and numerical ability toward Economics?

Subsidiary questions:

Is there a statistically significant difference in the academic achievement of

second year economics student teachers taught using RRT compared to

those taught using CTI?

How does RRT affect the attitude of student teachers expose to the RRT

strategy compared to the CTI strategy in Colleges of Education?

Does mode of entry affect academic achievement and attitude of Economics

student teachers at Colleges of Education?

8

1.5 Hypotheses formulated for the study

The following are the hypotheses formulated for the study:

Hypothesis 1

H0: There is no statistically significant difference between the academic achievement

and numeracy ability of second year Economics student teachers who participated in

the RRT and those who do not.

H1.There is a statistically significant difference between the academic achievement

and numeracy ability of second year Economics student teachers who participate in

the RRT and those who do not.

Hypothesis 2

H0: There is no statistically significant difference in the academic achievement of

second year Economics student teachers taught using RRT compared to those

taught using CTI.

H1: There is a statistically significant difference in the academic achievement of

second year economics student teachers taught using RRTcompared to those taught

using CTI.

Hypothesis 3

H0: There is no statistically significant effect of RRT on the attitude of student

teachers toward Economics.

H1:There is a statistically significant different effect of RRT on the attitude of student

teachers toward Economics.

Hypothesis 4

H0: There is no statistically significant effect of mode of entry on student teachers‟

attitude towards Economics

H1: There is a statistically significant effect of mode of entry on student teachers‟

attitude towards Economics

9

1.6 Scope of the study

This study covered three selected Colleges of Education in South-West Geopolitical

zone Nigeria. All available NCE II Economics students from the selected colleges

took part in the study. Some aspects of Economics in the NCE course outline were

taught. The study investigated the effect of usingRRTin teaching Dynamics to

student teachers with a view of improving their achievement and attitude toward

Economics. The influence of mode of entry and numerical ability were also

investigated.

1.7 Research design and methodology

The research design for this study is quasi-experimental design which approximates

the true experimental type. The purpose of the design is to determine cause and

effect, and there is an intervention controlled by experiments (McMillan

&Schumacher 2010).The situation that is common to quasi-experimental design is

when one is trying to know the effect of something – one can give an intervention to

one and treat the other one as a control. For a better understanding of the impact of

RRT on student teacher‟s academic achievement and attitude, the researcher used

an attitude questionnaire (short answer) and an achievement test (objective,

multiple-choice) in a pre-test and post-test design. This research design introduced

extra intensity and features into the research study as the outcome from one design

can be used to improve reliability and compensate for the limitations of the other

design (McMillan& Schumacher, 2010).

Quantitative research

Quantitative research methodology is the best method for this study since it is based

on the compilation and assessment of numerical data, usually obtained from

questionnaires, tests, checklists, and other official paper-and-pencil instruments

(Gay, Mills &Airasian, 2011). The researcher chose quantitative research

methodology as the researcher intended to study independent variables (RRTand

CTI) and dependent variables (achievement and attitude).

10

Data collection instruments

The main research data collection instruments were a self-structured, closed-ended

questionnaire (Appendix A1)and a self-developed achievement test (Appendix A2)

and numeracy ability test (AppendixA3). The research questions in the study

describe what is needed for student teachers to have the right attitude and to

perform better in Economics. The methodology for this study is discussed in further

detail in Chapter 4. The instrument was developed by the researcher and consists of

two sections: Section A, demographic data and Section B,short questions. The

instrument was given to two experts in Economics education for content and face

validity. Their advice was incorporated into the items.

Method of data analysis

The quantitative data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form

of proportions, frequencies, means and standard deviations, independent t-tests and

paired t-tests to compare differences between two groups, Analysis of Covariance

(ANCOVA) and ANOVA for repeated measures. The Multiple Classification Analysis

(MCA) aspect of ANCOVA was used to determine the magnitude of the performance

of the various groups in Economics. For significant interaction effects, graphical

illustrations have been used to explain such effects. The results obtained in this

study are as presented and discussed in Chapter 4.The sequence of the

presentation and the discussion of the results are in accordance with the hypotheses

formulated for the study

1.8 Significance of the study

It is projected that findings from this study will add to the many efforts made by

educators in Nigeria to make student teachers, Economics teachers,

parent/guardians, school administrators, curriculum planners, researchers and

government see the need for a more helpful method in the teaching of Economics.

The findings from this study will provide lecturers of Economics courses with relevant

information on relevant skills needed as a teacher and how to make teaching more

lively and flexible. It will also provide them with information on how to have

11

meaningful dialogues with their students and colleagues. Findings from the study will

enable curriculum planners to include suitable teaching strategies in the curriculum

especially for the NCE programme.

The study will provide student teachers with the knowledge of the role of

socialization in teaching, and to become aware of diverse cooperative teaching

models, especiallyRRTwhichthey can use when they are practicing. The study also

provides reference materials on the prospects of these strategies of Economics

teaching for educators and researchers.

1.9 Chapters layout

Chapter 1:The background to the study, statement of the problem, research

questions, hypothesis and purpose of the study, the primary aim of the study,

secondary objectives, scope of the study, and significance of the study.

Chapter 2: The theoretical framework including the social constructive theory, social

cognitive learning theory and reflective theory.

Chapter 3: The research design, variables in the study, selection of participants,

instrumentation, research process as well as method of data analysis.

Chapter 4:The result of the analysed data.

Chapter 5:Discussion of the major findings, conclusions and appropriate

recommendations there from.the

1.10 Definition of terms

Economics is the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between

ends and scarce means which have alternative uses (Robbins inAnde,2005).

Student Teacher: According to Virginia Wesleyan College, a student teacher is a

college student involved in a school-based field experience. Under the supervision of

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a cooperating teacher, the student teacher gradually takes on more classroom

management and institutional responsibilities.

Reflective strategy. Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the

classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works or not. It is a

process of self -observation and self-valuation. It is a means of professional

development which begins in our classroom. It is paying critical attention to the

practical values and theories which inform everyday action, by examining the

practice reflectively and reflexively (Bolton, 2010).

Attitude: attitude is “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a

particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour” (Eagly &Chaiken, 1993).

Reciprocal teaching strategy. Reciprocal teaching is a cooperative learning

instructional method in which natural dialogue models and reveals learners' thinking

processes about a shared learning experience. Teachers foster reciprocal teaching

through their belief that collaborative construction of meaning between themselves

and students leads to a higher quality of learning (Allen in Cheshire,Friese, &Howell,

2005).

Achievement: To succeed in doing or producing something (Oxford dictionary,

2012)

Strategy: Is a general adaptation of the means placed at a general‟s disposal to the

attainment of the object in view (The Encyclopedia Britannica in Anoff, 1990).

Teaching: is an activity that finds its result in the learner not in the teacher (Aristotle

cited in Noddings, 2003)Someone claiming to teach must produce learning in a

satisfactory number of students (Scheffler and Smith cited in Noddings,2003).

Mode of entry: Method of admission into an institution.

Numerical ability test: An estimate of the capacity of a person to argue with figures

and to calculate mentally, it‟s also to measure their capacities in mental calculation.

13

Achievement Test: “Test that measure knowledge, skills, or behaviour” (McMillan &

Schumacher, 2010). This measures an individual‟s knowledge or skill in a given area

or subject. It is a consistent tests measuring to a large extent what students have

learned in a given content area (Woolfolk, 2010).

Attitude scale: An attitude scale consists of a set of statements to which an

individual responds. The pattern of responses is then viewed as evidence of one or

more underlying attitude.

Pre-test: A determining test for assessing students‟ knowledge, willingness, and

abilities (Woolfolk, 2010).

Post-test: A test given to students after completion of an instructional program and

is often used in conjunction with a pre-test to measure their achievement and the

effectiveness of the program.

1.11 Conclusion

In this chapter, the researcher presented the background of the study and purpose of

the research, problem statement, objective of the study, hypotheses, scope of the

study, research methodology and design, research instruments, data collection

processes and data analysis methods. In Chapter 2, the researcher will review

literature and theoretical frameworks regarding the nature of RRT and its impact on

student teachers‟ academic achievement and attitude towards Economics.

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CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

In Chapter 1, the background to the study, statement of the problem, research

questions, and significance of the study, chapters‟ layout and definition of terms were

presented. In this chapter, the literature review explores local and international

literature as it relates to RRT strategy and student-teachers in the field of

Economics,and discusses related literature around the attitude and achievement of

student teachers in Economics. This chapter is structured according to five major

points. Firstly, the theoretical framework which guides this research, strategies of

education and RRTis defined and discussed. Secondly, teacher efficacy is

discussed. Thirdly, a model of reflective practice is explored. Fourthly, the use of

RRT strategy is discussed. Finally, the benefit of RRTin relation to Economics

education is presented.

2.2 Theoretical framework underpinning this study

“A theoretical framework is a collected work of solid concepts, like a theory, but not

necessarily so well worked out. A theoretical framework guides the research,

determining what things will be measured and what statistical relationships to look

for” (Van Wyk, 2000:1).

This study is based on a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning and

the cognitive learning theoryas articulated by Kolb and Vygosky.

Constructivist theory

The constructivist philosophy is based on the presupposition that learners should be

actively involved in the processes of thinking and learning (Ornstein & Hunkins,

2009). Woolfolk (2010) describes constructivism as a philosophy that emphasises

the dynamic role of learners in constructing their own knowledge by building

understanding and making sense of information.

15

In the current study, the constructivist approach of teaching and learning was

adopted. Participants were expected to become more actively involved in building

their own dynamic understanding in the choosing of a topic as they interacted with

each other, and with any other learning tool. The experimental group of learners

worked together as a team while the control group was expected to work individually.

The cooperative work was expected to be a teaching and learning tool that

minimised the dominance of the teacher in the learning setting while increasing

individual learner participation in accordance with the principles of constructivism, as

compared to CTI. The use of RRT was expected to generate a more learner-centred

environment. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine if RRT was superior or

not in applying constructivism compared to CTI.

Social cognitive learning theory

Socio-constructivism is a type of constructivism in which problem is solve, with

learners interacting with each other and with the teacher (Cobb et al, 1992).

Students are expected to become more actively involved after the initial help from

the teacher as they interact with each other.

Learners working together as a team for practical activities can helplearners tomake

more of an effort to try and understand atopic resulting in improved performance,

rather than giving up quickly.It is easier for learners to help each other to move from

the levelof difficlities to the level were they get help. The experimental group of

students could work together in solving the problems while the control group was

expected to just listen to their teacher and solve the problem individually. The

teamwork was expected to be a teaching and learning tool that minimised the

dominance of the teacher in the learning setting while increasing individual learner

participation in accordance with the principles of constructivism compared to CTI.

Because of the one-on-one situation provided by teamwork, students were expected

to perform better while interacting with each other and with their learning tool, and

internalise the (re)constructed new knowledge as they solved problems. Reflective

practice is an iterative method rather than a one-off event, concerning “repeated

cycles of investigating practice, adjusting practice and reflecting upon it, before trying

it again” (Grushka, McLeod & Reynolds, 2005) There are three phases of reflective

16

teaching; the planning, teaching and debriefing phases. Throughout the planning

phase the teachers have to use strategies such as cooperative learning, hands-on

activities etc. (Clarke, 2007).For this reason, the researcher used two cooperative

teaching strategies in reflective teaching. According to Orlichet al. (2010) cooperative

learning is a learning strategy based on the small group approach to teaching in

which students are responsible for both personal and group achievements.

Cooperative learning‟s important feature is that it promotes helpful independence by

teaching students to work and learn jointly in a group setting (Orlichet al.,

2010).There are many types of cooperative learning tools including: role playing,

scaffolding, reciprocal teaching, peer tutoring, brainstorming and thinking aloud

among others. Reciprocal teaching and the reciprocal peer tutoring are two of the

cooperative learning strategies employed in this study.

Teachers promote reciprocal teaching when they believe that the combined

assembly of sense between themselves and students resultsina higher quality of

learning(Allan,2003).This strategy enables students to carry out diverse academic

tasks. Students learn from one another as they exchange information and encourage

their comprehension. As result, skilled readers are produced (Allen, 2003).Skills and

strategies are enhanced throughout the reciprocal teaching procedure. Students are

able to develop metacognitive strategies (Moore & Wilkinson, 2003). Inferential skills

increase as students connect prior and present knowledge (Greenway, 2002).

However, Lysynchuck, Pressley and Vye(1990), Rosenshine, Meister and Chapman

(1996), Taylor and Frye (1992) and Van Den Bos,Brand-Gruweland Aartnouse

(1998) concluded that there is a problem with the time frame in which reciprocal

teaching is taught. These studies recommended that reciprocal teaching should take

place for a longer period of time, possibly an entire career. There was not enough

time for students to transfer strategies learned in reading and listening settings.

Taylor and Frye (1992) discovered that there were no differences between the

experimental and control groups in their research. Reciprocal teaching was used to

teach a bookish text to 14 Malaysian struggling readers of English. The outcome

showed that in the first lesson these students could not make links between the

events of the story to suggest an alternative resolution of the narrative. Afterward,

their responses in the guided remind task showed that the four groups were able to

supply the information making up the gist of the story. Nevertheless, the final

17

unguided recall task showed that two groups usually provided the assessment of

their story and could remember only disparate details in the orientation of the story

but could not remember major events. A major challenge confronting implementing

of the reciprocal teaching strategy is guiding groups to share the task of monitoring

their own comprehension through questioning, clarifying, summarizing and predicting

(Raslie, Mikeng&Ting,2015).The study showed various positive effects of reciprocal

teaching on struggling readers‟ comprehension of a narrative text, as evidenced by

their unguided recall of the gist of the narrative. Out of the four groups, two were able

to draw round the orientation, major events and resolution of the narrative, and these

two groups confirmed better group dynamics in that the leader was effective in

monitoring the group members‟ comprehension through questioning and helpful

information given. The other two groups tended to recall disparate details concerning

the setting and characters in the story and offered their assessment of the story, but

the details were not linked as events. This preliminary study showed that using

unguided recall to elicit the gist of the story is probably a better measure of

comprehension than guided recall using comprehension questions or remaking the

ending of the narrative because the latter does not tap into the skill of synthesizing a

literary text. However, the findings are merely analytic due to the short duration of

the reciprocal teaching involvement which does not allow skills in monitoring peer‟s

comprehension to develop sufficiently. Further studies using a longer duration for the

reciprocal teaching intervention with more scaffolding and modelling on using

questioning, clarifying, predicting and summarizing strategies as well as training on

leading group work may offer a more student-centred approach towards developing

reading comprehension skills (Raslie, Mikeng&Ting,2015).

Reflective learning theory

Kolb‟s reflective model highlights experimental learning and is focus on the changing

of information into knowledge. This takes place following the occurrence of the

situation and entails an expert reflecting on the experience, achieving universal

perceptive of the concepts encountered all through the experience and then testing

these universal understandings in a new situation. With this approach the knowledge

that is obtained is continuously applied and re-applied building on a practitioner‟s

previous experience and knowledge (Kolb & Kolb, 2005).According to Slavin (1987),

18

readily available are two major theoretical perspectives associated with cooperative

learning – motivational and cognitive. The motivational theories of cooperative

learning stress the students‟ incentives to do academic work, while the cognitive

theories call attention to the effects of working together(Dewey in Eggen &Kauchak,

2006).According to Dewey, reflective activity occurs while a person is faced with a

perplexed, troubled or confused situation, prior to clarification and resolution.

Therefore, for a teacher to accomplish his or her objective he or she should be a

critical thinker, somebody who can ask him or herself these questions at the

beginning of any learning situation.

What do I look forward to from my students as a result of my lessons?

What understanding, skills, wants and interests do my students have that

must be engaged?

What do I identify regarding the content, growth, inspiration and efficient

teaching strategies that I can use to accomplish my objectives?

What instructional resources, technology support and other material are

available?

How do I plan to support learners‟ development toward my objectives?

How will I react if my learners are not on track? What is my backup plan?

(Slavin, 1991).

And after each lesson an educator should ask him or herself the following questions:

How do I feel about the lesson?

What did I like about the lesson?

What would I do differently if I could teach the lesson all over again?

For students to accomplish themselves in any field of learning, an educator must be

informed of the social constructivist theory. This enables an educator to be well

prepared and ready to appraise him or herself.

Reflection begins from a question whose helpful answer someone concerned needs

to recognize. It progresses into ideas whose focus comparative to the activity from

which it hopes to study is determined by the timing of the selected question. It should

entail sustained questioning and especially self-questioning by an individual who

19

reflects privately. On the other hand, the model includes no elements that have not

been used and evaluated in much reported practice. From the time when reciprocal

teaching methods were introduced (Brown &Palinscar, 1989) many studies have

been conducted to observe the efficacy of this method in diverse settings. A number

of characteristics are common to many of the studies:

Students are chosen from basic and junior high schools on the basis of their

low scores in reading comprehension;

The involvement generally consists of more or less 20 days;

Improvement is considered by observable changes in the students'

involvement in the discussions and by independent tests every day of their

reading and retention of novel passages;

Long-term maintenance, transfer, and generalization are measured using

standardized tests.

In addition to developing reciprocal teaching, Palincsar, Brown and Campione (1989)

provided its most extensive evaluation. Collapsing findings from across several

replications of the intervention, the authors found that average seventh-grade

students scored 75% correct on their reading retention of novel passages. Remedial

students who participated in reciprocal teaching group discussions began, in

general, by scoring with 30%-40% accuracy and reached a stable level of 70%-80%

accuracy within 4 to 15 days. Ninety-eight percent of the students reached the

criterion of 75% accuracy. Most of the students maintained their improved level of

performance in the maintenance sessions and in the follow-up sessions that took

place 8 weeks after the intervention had ceased. Findings also indicated that the

reciprocal teaching method is superior when compared to alternative teaching

methods (Brown &Palincsar, 1982).

Two cognitive theories are directly applied to cooperative learning: developmental

and elaboration theories. The developmental theory believes that interaction

between students around suitable tasks increases their mastery of critical concepts.

Once students work together, they have to clarify and talk about each other‟s

perspectives, which leads to better understanding of the material to be learned. The

20

struggle to resolve possible conflicts through joint activity results in the improvement

of higher levels of understanding.

Education has been accountable for the upliftment of the human condition. Alade

(2004) observed that the major concern of education is the raising of human

conditions. In the course of education, individuals are able to increase their

knowledge and skills, accept new manners and be able to survive in society. In the

same vein, Oderinde (2005) opined that all over the globe, education plays a very

significant role in the improvement of the individual, society and the entire nation.

To ensure that the outcomes of education are achieved especially in Economics

teaching, Economics teachers are compelled to consider different teaching

strategies and methods. By pursuing these new strategies and methods, Economics

teachers will be able to initiate teaching and learning effectively so that knowledge,

skills and positive attitudes may be optimized among learners in their response to

the Economic environment. A variety of teaching strategies, methods and techniques

are available, but this study focuses on cooperative learning, which can be utilised to

immense benefit in the teaching and learning situation.

The worth of education at every level is extremely dependent on the worth and

commitment of the teachers (Ajiboye, Adu &Amosun, 2005). The developed and

developing nations have been making massive investments in education. Teacher

salaries account for 70% to 90% of the education resources in most

countries(Anderson,2004). The teacher determines the mood of the classroom and

jointly with other members of group, the atmosphere and prospect of the school. A

number of teachers prepare and carry out these fundamentals more successfully

than others.

In spite of the importance of Economics to everyday life in the area of commerce and

industry, the teaching of the subject in Nigeria is characterized by many

inadequacies. Nigeria‟s secondary school teachers of Economics have few materials

on the teaching of Economics to work with. Audio-visual aids are either not available

in sufficient quality, or what is available is usually inappropriate. This has affected the

efficiency of teaching of Economics. (Adu, 2002; Obemeata, 1991). Although, there

21

is an increase in the number of students that are taking the subject, achievement in

Economics has not been as good as it has been. Economics as a subject was only

theoretical before the introduction of a new Economics syllabus which incorporated

some elements of Mathematics into the subject. The situation has been posing

serious problems for students in Senior Secondary School classes partlyas a result

of the carry over effects of the negative attitudes which they have towards

Mathematics and ineffectiveness on the part of the teachers.

In-service teachers are used to the mode of the “chalk and talk” teaching method

and adjustment is difficult because they were taught that way. That is why the

researcher is of the opinion that it is best to „catch them young‟. If student teachers

can be taught and then practice RRT at Colleges of Educationputting it into practice

when they get to the class room will not be difficult.

2.3 Strategies of teaching

A teaching strategy comprises the values and methods used for instruction. Effective

teaching strategies assist students in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and

keep students on task. The objective of a teaching strategy is to facilitate learning, to

motivate learners, to engage them in learning, and to help them focus. It is important

to vary instruction to not only keep the students' attention, but also to let them to

work together with content in a variety of ways that are applicable to various learning

styles. A teaching strategy comprises the values and methods used for instruction.

Usually teaching methods include lecture, class participation, collaboration,

demonstration, project-based learning, or memorization, but some combination of

these usually results in the most effective strategy(Boundless,2015).

To accomplish learning educational goals teachers have to reflect on their teaching

goals and how these connect with the demographics and capacity of their students.

This way will, according to Clarke (2007), allow the teacher to simplify their

knowledge base, the content and their student learning styles and develop the

pedagogy to be implemented. In choosing instructional strategies, teachers have to

think about the challenges that the students may come across and strategies to help

them students in overcome them. Teachers have to evaluate the lesson goals and

22

identify the point at which difficulties may surface. A way of doing this is through

constructivism which is learning in an active situation through which new knowledge

is acquired by building on prior knowledge and metacognition, which involves

monitoring students thinking and behaviour as they regulate what they do and think

while having an experience in teaching (Hart, Dixon, Drummond&Mclntyre, 2004).

Reflective Teaching

Reflective teaching is a way of looking at how you perform in the classroom, think on

why you do it, and consider if it works or not. It is a method of self-observation and

self-valuation. It is a means of expert development which starts in the classroom. It is

paying significant interest to the useful ideals and theories which inform daily deeds,

by investigating practice reflectively and reflexively (Bolton, 2010). Dewey

recognizes that reflection assists our individual development; it is the way by which

we free ourselves from a solo point of view and the likely unhelpful effects of single

point of view.

Reflections can be described as any kind of thought about one‟s practice. One effect

of the cultural pre-dominance of technical-rationalism is that any kind of thinking

about one‟s practice tends to get described as reflective. Reflective teaching is

against „route action‟ which is controlled by „tradition‟, by institutional expectations

and definitions (Pollard & Tann, 1994). Therefore, a reflective teacher has need of

personal qualities of open-mindedness in engaging the claims of a series of views or

theories, accountability in the willingness to surrender to the influence of consistency

and intensity of commitment (Pollard & Tann, 1994).

The reflective teacher is one who attempts to convey development in their practice

by applying significant thinking to their situation, a move which is modulated by their

approval of that situation‟s rareness and its resistance to ready-made descriptions

and interpretations. “Reflection is a key part of the peer observation cycle” (Bell,

2001).The aims of this study are to establish the types of self-reflection in which

teaching engages in peer examination of teaching. The researcher wanted to

appraise the efficiency of the self-reflective component of the peer examination

23

employed in supporting reflection and to discover the aspects of teaching practice

that teaching is focused on.

Reflective practice is an iterative process rather than a one-off event, involving

“repeated cycles of examining practice, adjusting practice and reflecting upon it,

before trying it again” (Grushka, McLeod & Reynolds, 2005). Young‟s (2006)

description of reflection, which is from the work of (2006), is that: “reflective

processes engage creation of sense about the practice. This is essentially

collaborative. The resulting understanding provides an initial point for adapting

practice”. This description fits well with the collaborative nature of the peer

observation exercise and with the researcher‟s aim of supporting student teachers to

improve their teaching and their understanding of their teaching.

Kahnet al.(2006) noted the following benefits of reflective practice for academic

improvement:

Improved ability for reflective processes;

Improved capacity for practice; expansion of personal qualities (e.g. enlarged

self-confidence);

Establishment of helpful relationships among individuals involved in the

reflective processes; and

Change of practice.

Reflective practice also enhances academics‟ ability to mentor and develop others

(Bell, 2001). Reflection can be facilitated using what Kahn et al. (2006: 8) called

„„directed reflective processes grades”. When all other factors are assumed constant,

teacher knowledge and class size are also found to be significant predictors of

student assessment scores.

Research has revealed that teachers who deliberately self-reflect have increased

self-assurance and are likely to promote additional positive learning environments

and higher student attainment. Reflective practice assists one to observe and

evaluate during preparation in order to make pedagogical choices suitable to diverse

learning scenarios, such as deliberately taking into account how one might move

24

towards a web-based course with online engagement techniques rather than

unconsciously attempting to duplicate the face to face method. To use reflective

practice, one has to uphold the wish to learn more about oneself as a teacher and be

dedicated to iterative development. As a reflective teacher it is suitable to ask these

six questions at the beginning of any learning situation.

What do I expect my learners to know and able to do as a result of my

instruction?

What knowledge, skills, needs and interests do my learners have that must be

taken into account?

What do I know about the content, development, motivation and effective

teaching strategies that I can use to accomplish my objectives?

What instructional materials technology, assistance and other resources are

available?

How do I plan to asses‟ learner progress toward my objectives?

How will I respond if my learners are not on track? What is my backup plan?

(Slavin, 1991).

Reflective teaching is grounded in constructivism and metacognition where students

and teachers are exposed to teaching and learning skill under the inspection of their

peers and tutors or college managers who critique their ideals (Clarke,

2007).Reflection, according to Clarke (2007), refers to thoughts about real teaching

which involves the thinking of the teacher before, during and after a lesson. This

teaching strategy has not been given enough attention in the classroom. At the level

of student teachers, it will be useful to train teachers who can adopt them then

practice them later in their careers.

Reciprocal teaching

Reciprocal teaching recognizes that cognitive improvement happens when original

concepts learned during social interactions turn out to be internalized and made

one's own. Thus, reciprocal teaching provides a situation in which students, with the

help of the teacher and well-informed peers turn out to be increasingly skilful at

applying understanding strategies while reading. Reciprocal teaching is based on

Vygotsky's (1978) theory of the basic task of social interaction (dialogue) in the

25

enlargement of cognition. Thinking loudly and conversation of thoughts assist in

explanation and amendment of thinking and learning, as a result developing

cognition. Vygotsky's theory of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)is important

inidentifying suitable text and scaffolding performance to sustain student success

(Gallowayin Foster &Rotoloni, 2005). Text must be at a stage that can be efficiently

shared, not too simple and not too complicated. Proper support and feedback must

be given to aid learning throughout reciprocal teaching activities (Oczkus, 2003).

Reciprocal teaching is a planned strategy advocated by many reading experts for

developing comprehension skills (Palinscar& Brown, 1984). In reading, reciprocal

teaching involves students making predictions when reading, questioning

themselves concerning the ideas in the text, looking for explanations when

perplexed, and summarizing content (Pressley, 2002). A modification of reciprocal

teaching can be useful for developing comprehension of mathematical word

problems. The four major components of this adapted approach are:

Descriptive;

Searching;

Brief; and

Preparation.

Throughout a reciprocal teaching class on mathematical word problems, the

students are separated into small groups, and one student is assigned the position of

leader. The leader asks the group members to silently read a word problem. Later,

when the entire group has read the problem, the leader asks for vocabulary or

phrases that need to be clarified. Any group member can provide the meaning of a

word or phrase. After all words and phrases have been clarified, the leader uses

questions to recognize the key parts of the problem. The group leader then

summarizes the purpose of the word problem. The leader guides the group in

devising a plan to answer the problem. The steps and operations necessary to solve

the problem are listed. Once the plan has been checked to make sure that it makes

sense, the mathematical word problem is solved. Solving the problem may be done

independently or jointly. Following the solution of the problem, a new leader is

chosen to assist in solving of the next problem.

26

It is very important for students to have the right attitudes and perceptions toward

Economics courses in order for them to excel in Economics. These would help them

to gain knowledge of Economics in a more enjoyable manner. This is proven by

Karstensson and Veddar (1974) in their study of students‟ attitudes. They found a

statistically significant and positive relationship between students‟ pre-course

attitudes and course grade in economics when scrutinizing students‟ interest in the

subject and its usefulness to college and post-college work.

In addition, student individuality type has to do with academic performance in

Economics. Student performance can be affected by attitudes and attitudes can, in

turn, affect student performance. Not much work has not been conducted in

determining how Economics courses have transformed student attitudes and how

this has altered over time. Positive attitudes and insight in the direction of Economics

can be produced if student seniors give useful information on the topic and perform

well in Economics. The less anxious the students, the more they will take pleasure in

the subject, and the better they will achieve in economics(Van Wyk,2011).

Economics offers alternatives that have an effect on nearly all aspects of our life. It is

important to all and sundry and not just economists.Opportunity cost occurs every

time a decision is made,forinstance, in deciding whether to have extra free time or to

work overtime. Economics is essential to individuals in making decisions that can

maximize their fulfilment; to business organizations in maximizing returns; and to

governments in providing a high standard of living for their citizens. Economics also

touches future issues such as fossil fuel and electricity and the impact of availability /

lack of availability on industry and private individuals. Benzing and Christ (1997)

observe that many Economics teachers have transformed their teaching styles in

recognition that student attitudes and personalities are essential in determining

academic success. It is also presumed that preliminary economics courses have

become complex courses because of the three aspects necessary in mastering the

subject: theories, analysis and application. In economics education literature, there is

a lot written regarding the significance of math skills and basic economics being

mastered by students to do well in economics courses.Bachan and Reilly (2003)

established that math test scores had a strong and important effect on performance

27

in the economics course. They found that performance in SSCE mathematics

exercise has a strong influence on A-level achievement in Economics. Further, they

found that students who were asked to do a remedial math course did significantly

worse in the economics course than did students who were not ask to do remedial

math course.

Reciprocal teaching is a student-centred instructional strategy where students and

teachers exchange roles in a lesson. It is a cooperative learning instructional mode

in which normal dialogues form and expose learners‟ thinking processes concerning

a joint learning experience (Foster&Rotoloni, 2005). Teachers promote reciprocal

teaching with their belief that the combined construction of meaning among

themselves and students makes for a higher quality of teaching (Allan, 2003).

Students take possession of their role in reciprocal teaching as they feel relaxed

expressing their facts and opinions in open conversation. Reciprocal peer tutoring is

an involvement in which one student provides teaching support to another student.

Peer tutoring ranges from the familiar encounter of play to the most difficult activities

of collaboration in which persons help one another and study by doing so.In this

process, students function reciprocally as both tutors and tutees. Research has

revealed that both tutors and tutees gain massively from participating in reciprocal

peer tutoring (Slavin, 1991; Griffin & Griffin, 1997). Reciprocal teaching increases

students‟ self-assurance and understanding and use of strategies and in their

enjoyment of learning.

Students become teachers and work as a group to contribute meaning to a text in

reciprocal education as a strategy of cooperative groups (Palincsar, 1987). Teachers

and students set up a dialog about a section of text. The dialog is prepared using

four strategies:

Summarise;

Generate questions;

Clarify; and

Predict.

28

Steps for the establishment of reciprocal education

The teacher distributes a passage of a text to every student of the group. All

students read the passages and, in writing, summarizes, clarifies or predicts based

on the passage. The teacher as the most important member of the group initiates the

questions. A member of the group answers, using the text to sustain his or her

response. The student who answered the question asks another one and the

procedure repeat itself. The teacher shapes and explains the four strategies of

summarize, generate questions, clarify, predict. The teacher starts the conversation

with the students in small groups. The students practice the strategies as they get

the response from the teacher. There are opportunities for students to grow skills in

group interactions and in working with others that are essential in today‟s world,

through cooperative learning as an instructional methodology. Cooperative learning

has to result in positive effects on student achievement and retention of information.

With this methodology, students are more liable to obtain critical thinking skills and

metacognitive learning strategies such as learning how to become skilled at work in

small group cooperative settings compared to listening to lectures.

Concerning the role of the teacher and the interpersonal nature of learning, it is

obvious that the student does not construct knowledge in segregation, thanks to the

teacher who fulfils various roles – transmitter of knowledge, entertainer, supervisor

or guide of the learning process, and educational researcher. The teacher is an

organiser and also a mediator in the assembly of the pupils with knowledge. There is

no agreement concerning the knowledge and skills that a good teacher must

possess. The teacher is an intermediary involving the knowledge and the learning of

their students and thus shares the benefits of cooperative learning. The teacher can

use the approach of cooperative learning in the classroom to encourage a feeling of

involvement. Through reciprocal strategies teachers can assist students to

accomplish what they think they cannot accomplish, by coordinating their hard work

with those of their contemporaries to complete a task.

Cooperative learning activities

For achievement in the course of teacher‟s careers and life, they should take into

account the following suggestions concerning cooperative learning processes.

29

The bigger the group the more skilled the members need to be; small

groups from two to five members are ideal;

For everybody to learn from the differences of others diverse groups

should be created.

Be certain that the students understand their roles and their tasks in the

group. Explain the list of roles to the group for them to select, or give them

their particular roles.

Model skills of collaboration and joint respect.

Persuade group members to listen, let others speak, request for help if

needed, reach agreement and finish a task in the allowed time.

Walk in the midst of the groups as they are working. Employ friendly reminders of

procedure if needed. If need be, teach procedure once more (Macpherson, 2007).

Through this teaching strategy students can have the chance to work with diverse

people in the class during the course of the year.

Cooperative learning activities improve collaborative thoughts and regular giving and

receiving of explanations has the prospect of raising deepness of understanding,

excellence of reasoning, and the exactness of long term retention. Several studies

have examined the effects of cooperative learning methods on student learning;

those who were taught by cooperative methods learned and retained significantly

more. Allen and Van Sickle (1984) conducted a study which concerned low

achievement students. The outcome of the study revealed that the cooperative

learning group scored considerably higher compared to the control group. A study

conducted by Perrault (1983) established that cooperative learning resulted in

considerably higher accomplishment in industrial arts students at the knowledge and

comprehension levels of Bloom‟s classification, but not at the application level when

compared to students taught by other methods.

In a review of 46 studies related to cooperative learning, Slavin (1983) found that

cooperative learning resulted in significant positive effects in 63% of the studies, and

only two studies reported higher achievement for the comparison group. Van Wyk

30

(2010) examined the relationships between students‟ attitudes toward cooperation,

competition, and their attitudes toward education. The results of the study indicated

that student cooperativeness, and not competitiveness, was positively related to

being motivated to learn. Students taught by cooperative strategies assumed that

they had learned more from the lesson than did students taught by competitive

strategies. In a study concerning basic and high school students who were taught

nutrition, Todd and Wodarski (1980) established that 95% of the basic students

enjoyed the cooperative learning activities.

Cooperative learning is considered to be an efficient means to improve teaching and

learning processes in the classroom. This transformation from a teacher-centred

method to an active learner-centred method was set in the new education policy

structure (Department of Education [DoE] 2005). Within the NCS curriculum, but

specifically in Economics, it is of critical importance that learners learn how to gather

relevant information. The learner has to identify problems and find solutions to these

challenges by means of creative and innovative thinking in real-life situations. To

ensure that the outcomes of Economics teaching are achieved, Economics teachers

are compelled to consider different teaching strategies and methods. By pursuing

these new strategies and methods, Economics teachers must now initiate teaching

and learning environments effectively so that knowledge, skills and positive attitudes

may be optimized among learners in their response to the socioeconomic

environment.

A large variety of teaching strategies, methods and techniques are available, but this

study focuses on different cooperative learning teaching techniques, which can be

utilised to immense benefit in the teaching and learning situation. The researcher

contends that Economics teachers should strive to present their subject in ways that

are meaningful and learner-centred. If this can be achieved, learners can be

engaged efficiently in the subject, and an interest in the learning content may be

evoked. According to Slavin (1994), by establishing excellent modes of teaching

such as cooperative learning teaching techniques, Economics teachers create

powerful and sustainable learning environments to accommodate and enable diverse

learning styles in the subject.

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2.4 Teacher efficacy perspective

The literature explaining the effects of teaching effectiveness on teaching

performance is recognized on the basis of the social cognitive theory. Bandura

(1997) concluded that the evidence across studies is reliable in showing that

“perceived self-efficacy” contributes considerably to levels of motivation and

performance accomplishment. Bandura (2000) embraced an incorporated

perspective for human performance in which social influences work through

psychological mechanisms. Teachers‟ personal ideas and convictions about their

own performance havea lot of influence on the final performance.

As explained by Gibson and Dembo (1984), teachers who believe student learning

can be influenced by effective teaching and who also have confidence in their own

teaching abilities would persist longer, provide a greater academic focus in the

classroom, and exhibit different types of feedback than teachers who have lower

expectations concerning their ability to influence student learning. Research on

efficacy of teachers suggests that behaviours such as persistence ina task, risk

taking, and use of innovations are related to degrees of efficacy of cooperative

learning as a teaching approach.

Cooperative learning is based on the belief that education should be learner-centred

and learner-directed, that learners can be teachers and that the teacher is a guide

and facilitator rather than the source of all knowledge and direction. Cooperative

learning has the potential to make a positive contribution to the academic

performance, social skills and self-image of learners.

Teachers‟ beliefs and convictions about their own performance have much influence

on the actual performance. Sapon-Shevin and Schniedwind (1991) hold the view that

cooperative learning is necessary in any teaching-learning situation, because this

particular strategy “can promote educational excellence for all children regardless of

race, class, or gender, and can supply students and teachers with the experience

and prospect of active involvement in controlling and changing the spheres of their

lives”. Adams and Hamm (1996) declare that cooperative learning as a teaching

strategy is one of the accomplishment stories in the revolution of education over the

32

past decade. Their research has focused on the use of cooperative learning activities

in the classroom where students jointly and creatively identify problems and

generate practicable solutions.

Cooperative learning is a very prepared way of teaching. Economics teachers should

thus be completely knowledgeable regarding what it entails. When introducing it to

learners for the first time, teachers will have to be very tolerant because the learners

will experience it as new and may only respond gradually. Economics teachers must

think clearly regarding the worth of cooperative learning as an efficient teaching

method. Their teaching style must be modified and be flexible even if it does not

produce the required results. Economics teachers must also bear in mind that

cooperation is empowerment. Cooperative learning has the possibility of making a

positive input to the academic performance, social skills and self-image of learners.

In the view of the researcher, cooperative learning techniques have the potential to,

on the one hand, arouse the improvement of thinking skills, and on the other,

develop social relations essential for cognitive growth and effectual learning. The

cooperative learning procedure entails diverse teaching techniques like team

assisted individualisation, Team-Games-Tournaments, Jigsaw III, Cooperation

Integrated Reading and Compassion, Learning Together, Student Teams-

Achievement Division, Team Assisted Individualisation, Academic controversy, and

Group Investigation. Cooperative learning is one of the most widespread and fruitful

areas of theory, research, and practice in education. Cooperative learning is

considered to be an effective method to improve teaching and learning processes in

the classroom (Johnson and Johnson 1998). Arising from this approach, the

researcher therefore explores the current status of Economics student teachers‟ use

of cooperative learning teaching techniques.

Griffiths and Tam (1992) cited in Poblete (1999) categorised reflection into two

forms: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Reflection-in-action refers to what

happens when one is presented with novel puzzles. The resolving of these puzzles

in the context of action, according to Schon (1983), unites means and ends,

research and practice, and knowing and doing. This type of reflection is personal and

private. It occurs as an action is going on and the reaction is rapid i.e. act and react.

Reflection-on-action on the other hand is seen as a procedure for studying

33

immediate, at-hand events in order to understand them and develop a conceptual

framework for useful practice. It involves recalling one‟s teaching after the class. This

is intrapersonal and occurs after an event might have taken place. Reflection-on-

action includes:

Involvement in a scenario (an action);

Recording of the scenario (for getting a stable idea);

Determinations, interpretations and evaluation;

Formation of educational construal; and

Confirmation to determine whether the construal has meaning to other

practitioners (Garman, 1989 in Problete, 1999).

Another type of reflection is a reflection-for-action which occurs before an event

takes place. All is embedded under reflective practice. Reflective teaching is a

means of professional development which begins in the classroom. It is paying

critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday action, by

examining practice reflectively and reflexively (Bolton, 2010). Dewey (1933), in his

concept of “reflective inquiry”, viewed the students as inquirers and active

participants in learning. He assumed that the interaction of subject-matter and

method of inquiry could not be ignored in schooling. Following this line of thinking,

the reflective teacher makes decisions based on a problem-solving paradigm

(Orlichet al., 2010). Problems are not viewed as obstacles to overcome, but as

opportunities to be met. Teachers reflect on problems, and as part of a learning

community, they call on others (i.e. their peer and senior colleagues) to reflect on

identified problems. In such cases, they collectively list a series of alternatives that

they can take. Ultimately, such a list is narrowed down to a set of actions that are

ethical, just and educationally sound. Reflective teaching can be thought about in

terms of asking searching questions about experience and can be conceptualized as

both a state of mind and an on-going type of behaviour. Being a reflective

practitioner at any stage in teacher development involves a constant, critical look at

teaching and learning and at the work of the teacher (Harrison, 2009).

Reflective teaching deals with active research, critical thinking and professional

enquiry. It also deals with thinking deeply to solve a given problem and in doing this

34

you ask a lot of thought provoking questions like: why do I teach the way I do? What

are the principles underlining my teaching? Should I do it differently? What are the

major problems that I face in my teaching? Why does a particular method work for

student A or topic A but not for student B or topic B? What am I doing right or wrong

in my classrooms? What made my lesson seem so successful/not successful?

2.5 Models of reflective practice

There are several models of reflection, some of which are presented below.

Argyris and Schon’smodel of reflective teaching

Argyris and Schon pioneered the plan of single loop and double loop learning in

1978. The theory was built around the recognition and adjustment of an apparent

fault or error. Single loop learning is when an expert, even after an error has

occurred and a rectification is made, continues to rely on existing strategies or

technique when a similar circumstance again comes to light. Double loop learning

involves the alteration of personal objectives, strategies or policies so that when a

similar situation arises a new framing system is employed (Argyris& Schon, 1978)

(Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1: Adaptation of the Argyris and SchonDouble Loop Learning Model

Schon himself introduced a number of years later the concept of Reflection-in-action

and Reflection-on-action the summary of which is presented in Figure 2.2.

Polices, Strategies

Techniques

Consequences Employment

Analyses

Analyses and Adapt

REFLECTION IN ACTION

- thinking ahead - analyzing - experiencing - critically responding

REFLECTION IN ACTION

- thinking through subsequence to situation

- discussing - reflective journal

Schon‟s Reflection

35

Figure 2.2: Schon’s concept of reflection-in-action and Reflection-on-action Kolb’s Reflective Model

This model highlights the idea of experimental learning and is centered on the

conversion of information into knowledge. This takes place after the situation has

occurred and entails a practitioner reflecting on the experience, gaining a general

understanding of the concepts encountered during the experience and then testing

these general understandings in a new situation. In this way the knowledge that is

gained from a situation is continuously applied and re-applied building on a

practitioner‟s prior experience and knowledge (Kolb &Kolb, 2005) (Figure 2.3).

36

Figure 2.3: Kolb’s reflective model

(Source: Kolb, 1984 in Kolb and Kolb, 2005)

Reflective practice occurs at all stages of the teaching process including planning,

action (execution) and evaluation (Clarke, 2007). That is, the thinking about

teaching, which involves the thoughts teachers have before, during, and after the

actual enactment of a lesson. This construct is parallel to the thinking processes

identified by Polya (1945). In his concept of problem solving, there are three phases:

(a) Understanding, (b) Planning, and (c) Looking back.

According to Clarke (2007), teachers should engage in similar types of thinking

before they teach a lesson. To achieve desired results, teachers should reflect on

their teaching goals and methods and how these interface with the demographics

and abilities of their students. This process allows them to clarify their knowledge

base, the content, and their students‟ learning styles and to crystallize the pedagogy

to be implemented (Clarke, 2007).

Teachers must consider the challenges that students may encounter and which

strategies to implement in order to assist students in overcoming them. Polya‟s

“looking back” phase is the reflective thinking that teachers engage in after they

teach a lesson (Artzt&Armour-Thomas, 2002). At the end of the lesson, teachers

evaluate the lesson goals and the actions of both themselves and their students as

well as define the points at which difficulties emerged. They need to consider the

strategies employed and when necessary make modifications. The self-assessment

helps identify what was not addressed and the unexpected challenges of the lesson.

Concreteexperience

Teaching implications of concepts in newsituation

Observations and reflections

Formation of abstract concepts and

generalisations

37

Characteristics of a reflectiveteacher

The following are the characteristics of a reflective teacher:

Cares about students;

Understands the social context of schooling;

Question assumptions;

Knows content;

Identifies problems or issues;

Collects relevant data;

Constructs a plan of operation;

Uses many instructional strategies;

Practices problem-solving strategies;

Thinks prospectively and retrospectively;

Realizes that reflection is cyclical; and

Evaluates the results and processes used.

(Orlichet al.,2010)

Approaches to the use of reflective teaching

Reflective practice occurs at all stages of the teaching process.Leitch and Day

(2000) state that the appeal of the use of reflective teaching by teachers is that as

teaching and learning is complex, and there is not one right approach, reflecting on

different versions of teaching and reshaping past and current experiences will lead to

improvement in teaching. As Larrivee (2000) argues, reflective practice moves

teachers from their knowledge base of distinct skills to a stage in their careers where

they are able to modify their skills to suit specific contexts and situations, and

eventually to invent new strategies. In implementing a process of reflective practice

teachers will be able to move themselves, and their schools, beyond existing

theories in practice (Leitch& Day, 2000).

Some reflective questions that the teacher can ask themselves or colleagues about a

lesson include:

What did you set to teach?

38

Were you able to accomplish the set goal?

What teaching materials did you use? Were they effective?

What strategy(s) did you use? Were they effective?

What kind of interaction occurred?

Did you have any problem?

Did you do anything different than usual during the lesson?

Did you follow your lesson plan or deviate from it?

Were your students really challenged?

What aspect did they like most about the lesson?

What would you do differently if given a second chance to do that same

class?

Before a lesson a teacher can also do a self-reflection by asking questions such as:

What are my greatest strengths and weakness as a teacher?

What is the biggest problem that I am facing in my teaching (e.g. materials,

class size, unresponsive student, lack of good communication among fellow

teachers)?

Reflect on a recent lesson, what worked well and why? What did not work well

and why?

Is your class student centered?

Do you encourage learner autonomy?

How?

Benefit of reflective teaching

The following are the advantages to be derived from using reflective teaching in the

classroom. Reflective teaching:

Develops the quality of teaching through continuous improvements.

Gives educators new opportunities to reflect on and assess their teaching.

Enables teachers to explore and test new ideas, methods, approaches, and

materials.

Provides opportunities to assess how effective the new approaches were.

Provides opportunities to share feedback with fellow team members.

39

Provides opportunities to make decisions about which new approaches to

include in the school‟s curriculum, instruction, and assessment plans.

Significantly increases student motivation.

Recognizes individual progress.

Enhances and develops forms of collaborative learning.

Increases learner independence.

Enhances confidence (Cruickshank, 1987).

Reflective teaching is effective at enhancing quality assurance in the teaching and

learning process. Building it into daily routines is a realistic way of including it. This

can be in the form of jotting notes on daily lesson plans, keeping a teacher‟s journal

or scheduling a weekly review over drinks with a colleague, mentoring by senior

colleagues. Consistent reflection will bring to light issues that need attention and

provide opportunities for brainstorming with colleagues for possible solutions. It also

bridges the gap between the micro and macro dimensions of teaching. Its use in

teaching is a must and it is a necessary tool for effective and efficient teaching in

Nigerian Colleges of Education. It is hoped that the experience shared in this

research will stimulate thoughts in the student teachers about the value of reflection.

2.6 Conclusion

Reflective-reciprocal teaching is an an alternative method of instruction that

Economicsteachers can use to improvethe attitude and achievement of student

teachers. However, implementation relies on the lecturers at the Colleges of

Education.Although RRTis time comsuming,it is appropriate for a course like

Economics because of the involment of mathematics.

An evaluation of the literature on economic education suggests that economics as a

school subject together with how it is taught and learnt appears very much under-

researched in many parts of the world. However, through research such as this

current study the effect of RRT can be determined. Therefore, this study will

contribute to the already existing body of knowledge on the effect of RRT and CTI in

the teaching of Economics.

40

CHAPTER 3 : RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

The previous chapter was a critical description of RRT. Reflective-Reciprocal

Teaching is a student-cantered instructional strategy in which students and teachers

switch roles in an Economics lesson. This chapter describes the research

methodology and design which is the assembly and analysis of data in order to

accomplish the aim of the study. The aim is to investigate the impact of RRT on

student teachers‟ attitudes and academic achievement in Economics in Nigeria,

South-West College of Education. This study aimed at answering the following

research questions:

1. How does a reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy impact on student teachers‟

academic achievement, numerical ability and attitude toward economics at aCollege

of Education, Nigeria.

2. Is there a statistically significant difference in the academic achievement of

second year Economics student teachers taught using RRT as compared to those

taught using CTI?

3. How does RRT affect the attitude of student teachers exposed to RRT

strategiescompared to CTI strategies in a College of Education?

4. Does mode of entry affect academic achievement and attitude of Economics

student teachers at a College of Education?

3.2 Research paradigm or philosophy

Paradigms perform as perspectives that supply a rationale for the research and

instruct the researcher regarding exact methods of data collection, observation and

Interpretation (Blanche, Durrheim&Painter, 2006).WeaverandOslon(2006)see

paradigms as “a pattern of beliefs and practices; its identification explicates

41

researchers „philosophical assumptions about their subject matter.” The researcher

defines paradigm as a lens that makes her see her research work clearly. The

researcher sought to measure the impact of RRT on student teachers‟ academic

achievements and attitudes toward Economics. In order to answer the central

research problem this study adopted the post-positivist paradigm. According to

Henderson (2011:342) “post-positivism provides another paradigm that can move

positivism from a narrow perspective into a more encompassing way to examine real

world problems”. In addition, “post-positivism emphasizes meanings, not unlike

interpretive, and seeks to explicate social concerns” (Further&Ryan,2006 in

Henderson, 2011:342).

Furthermore, because there is much about the human experience that is not

observable but is still important e.g. feeling, thinking, post-positive psychologists

came to reject the positivists‟ narrow view that what could be studied was limited to

what could be generalized (Grotty 1998 in Mertens, 2010:11). An example of a study

conducted within the post-positivist paradigm was that conducted by Bormanet

al.(2007 cited in Mertens, 2010). They explicitly chose to operate within the post-

positivist paradigm, which led them to use an experimental design in order to

measure the effectiveness of a literacy development program. In the same vein, this

study which sought to measure the impact of RRT on student teachers‟ academic

achievements and attitudes toward economics also employed a post-positivist

paradigm.

The choice of this paradigm therefore enabled the researcher to comprehend and

interpret respondents‟ perceptions, attitudes, values and beliefs regarding the impact

of RRT. Post-positivism allows for limitations, contextual factors, and the use of

multiple theories within which research findings can be interpreted (McMillan&

Schumacher, 2010). In this study, responses from participants have been elicited

through a questionnaire, pre-test and post-test design approach to data collection.

3.3 Methodology

According to Giddings and Grant (2006), research methodology refers to the

hypothetical assumptions and values that strengthen a particular research approach

42

and guides how a researcher frames the research question and decides on what

procedure and methods to use. McMillanand Schumacher (2010) state that

“research design refers to a plan for selecting subjects, research sites, and data

collection procedures to answer the research question(s).The design shows which

individuals will be studied and when, where and under which circumstances they will

be studied.” It is in light of what has been established concerning research

methodology and design that the researcher, in this section, presents the

methodological paradigm and research design, research site, population and

sampling procedures, as well data collection, analysis and interpretation methods.

Details of adherence to ethical considerations, the quality assurance measures used

and the limitations of the study will be provided.

There are two major methodologies of collecting data in social research, namely

qualitative and quantitative methodology. “Qualitative methods are use in research

that is designed to provide an in-depth description of a specific, program, practice, or

setting. Qualitative researcher study things in their natural settings, attempting to

make sense of or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to it”

Mertens (2010). Quantitative research relies primary on the collection of quantitative

data. It attempts to study behaviour under controlled conditions (Johnson

&Christensen, 2004)

A quantitative method was chosen for this study because the study sought to

investigate the impact of RRT on student teachers‟ attitude and achievement

towards teaching Economics.

Quantitative research

Quantitative research methodology is the most appropriate design for this study

because it is based on the compilation and examination of numerical data, usually

obtained from questionnaires, tests, checklists, and other official paper-and-pencil

instruments (Gay, Mills &Airasian, 2011).Quantitative research generates digital data

or information which can be converted into figures. Measurable data are collected

and analyzed in quantitative research.

43

The researcher chose a quantitative research methodology as the researcher

intended to study independent variables, namely RRT and CTI and dependent

variables such as achievement and attitude.

Characteristics of quantitative research methodology

Research methods and processes are established before the study begins. It mostly

attempts to establish universal, context-free generalization. Ideally the researcher is

detached from the study to avoid bias. Quantitative researcher usually employs

experimental or correlational designs to reduce error, bias, and the influence of

extraneous variables.This methodology aims to determine whether there is a

relationship between the manipulated(independent) variable and some characteristic

or behaviour of the participants(the dependent variable) (McMillan &

Schumacher,2010).

3.4 Research design

Research design is the procedures for conducting the study, including when, from

whom, and under what conditions the data will be collected. The research design

indicates the general plan, how the research is set up, what happens to the subjects,

and what methods of data collection is used (McMillan & Schumacher,2010).This

research employed quasi-experimental design.

Quasi-experimental design

Quasi-experimental design approximates the true experimental type. The purpose of

the design is to determine cause and effect, and involves an intervention controlled

by experiments (McMillan &Schumacher, 2010).The situation that is common to

quasi-experimental design is that one is trying to know the effect of something. An

intervention is introduced to one and the other is treated as a control. For the better

understanding of the impact of reflective-reciprocal teaching on student teacher‟s

academic achievement and attitude, the researcher used an attitude questionnaire

(short answer) and an achievement test (objective, multiple-choice) in a pre-test and

post-test design. This research designs introduces extra intensity and features into a

research study as the outcome from one design can be used to improve reliability

44

and compensate for the limitations from the other design (McMillan & Schumacher,

2010).The current study employed the use of a pre-test, post-test, by using

questionnaires and an achievement test to measure the impact of RRT and CTI on

the achievement and attitude of second year Economics student teachers.

Variables in the study

The independent variable is the teaching strategy manipulated at two levels:

1.Reflective-Reciprocal Teaching.

2.Modified Conventional Teaching.

There are two moderator variables:

1.Student teacher‟s mode of entry:

a. Preliminary Studies; and

b. Direct Entry.

2.Student teachers‟ numeracy ability.

The dependent variables are:

Student teacher‟s achievement in Economics.

Student teachers‟ attitude in Economics.

3.5 Selection of participants

There are 22 Federal Colleges of Education in Nigeria. N= 178 second year

economics student teachers were selected from three colleges for participation in

this study. The characteristics of students in these colleges, in terms of socio-

economic status, learning environment and educational resources are almost similar.

In purposive sampling the goal is to select a sample that is likely to be “information-

rich” with respect to the anticipated outcomes of the study (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2007).

Purposive sampling may help the researcher in discovering, gaining insight and

understanding of a particular chosen phenomenon, which in this study constitute the

problem of poor performance of Economics student teachers in selected Federal

Colleges of Education. Despite the criterion of performance, the selected colleges

present a convenient sample for the study since the researcher is an Economics

45

lecturer in this state so she has chosen the colleges based on her knowledge and

experience with the colleges. The selected schools were randomly assigned to two

groups, namely the experimental group and the control group. The sampling technique

employed in this study was quasi-experimental research. In a quasi-experimental

design, the independent variable is manipulated but the groups (experimental and

control) are not equated (non-equivalent) prior to the manipulation. In this study the

control group (n = 85) was taught by a lecturer with the traditional teaching method,

while the experimental group (n = 93) was taught by the researcher with the

reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy. The study follows quantitative research

design method and used a pre-test and a post-test to collect data.

3.6 Instruments

Three instruments were used to carry out the study:

Questionnaires – Economics‟ attitude questionnaire for student teacher (EAQ)

Achievement Test in Economics for student teacher (ATEST)

Numeracy ability test for student teacher (NATST)

Quantitative research data quality is controlled by establishingits validity and

reliability. Validity determines whether the study actually measures that which is

planned to be measured, and reliability ensures how constant the results are when

the experiment is recurring a number of times in similar methodological

circumstances. Quantitative researchers desire their measures to be reliable and

valid.

Numeracy Ability Test for Student Teacher (NATST)

Numeracy is the ability to reason and to apply simple numerical concepts. The

instrument was developed by the researchers and consisted of two sections. Section

A gathers the demographic information of respondents such as name, college, sex

and mode of entry while Section B consists of 07 items which the student teachers

will solve in the space provided on the question paper to test their numerical ability

level (See Appendix A3).

46

Validation of NATST

To validate NATST, the instrument was given to two experts in Economics

education. Their advice and suggestion were incorporated into the items. The

modified test items were administered to 35 pre-service teachers that were not

involved in the main study to determine the reliability and internal consistency of the

scores using the split-half method.

Achievement Test in Economics (ATE)

This instrument tested the student teachers‟ intellectual achievement related to

various concepts in economics. The test consists of 20 multiple-choice objective test

items. It has two sections with Section A containing demographic information such

as name, college, sex and mode of entry while Section B contains the test items

constructed as presented in Appendix A2. The alternatives for the questions range

from A to C. One mark was awarded for each correct option and zero for wrong

options. This means that the total marks obtainable is 20. The test items were

generated to cover the cognitive domain of facts, perceptionand thoughts.

Validation of ATE

To determine the face validity of the instrument, the draft of the test was given to two

experts in Economics education who went through it and made necessary

corrections and suggested that five items be re-framed. The test was further

administered to 30 student teachers from a College of Education not chosen for the

study. The discriminating indices for each of the items and difficulty levels were

computed by the researcher. The items with moderate difficulty indices of 0.4 to 0.6

were retained while ensuring that such items had a positive correlation with the

entire test. The responses were used to determine the reliability.

Economics attitude questionnaire

One more dependent variable that was measured in this study was attitude. The

effect of reflective-reciprocal and conventional teaching on student teachers „attitude

were determined.

To this end the questionnaire was administered to the participants in both groups.

The administration of a questionnaire after the intervention was designed to decide

47

whether the attitude of student teachers in the experimental group had been raised

by means of RRT compared to learners in the control group.

Questionnaires gave the researcher the exact figure of the respondents who strongly

disagree, disagree, agree and strongly agree. The research actually measures that

which it planned to measure. The researcher used questionnaires comprising

closed-ended questions. The close-ended questions consisted of a four point Likert

scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree and strongly agree). A Likert scale asks

persons to confirm their level of accord with various statements (Gall, Borg & Gall

1996:273).

Questionnaires have an introduction where the researcher introduces and gives

details of the reasons the research is being conducted and requests the respondents

to complete the questionnaires. To create a questionnaire that will generate a

reliable and valid outcome the researcher initially decides what type of information is

to be collected, determines how to conduct the questionnaire, constructs the first

draft of questionnaire, amends the questionnaire, and requests colleagues who have

Master Degrees to correct the questionnaire. According to Best and Kahn

(1993:208), validity is that value of a data-gathering instrument or process that

enables it to measure what is supposed to be measured. In this study the

questionnaires measured the effect of RRT on student teacher‟s attitude and

achievement toward Economics. The validity of questionnaires as data collection

instruments was assured by assessing them through every step of their construction.

The content of the literature review was included in the questionnaires to ensure

their content validity.

3.7 Research procedure

The following time schedule was used for the study:

1st-2nd weeks: Visitation to the college used as experimental group.

3rd week: Visitation to the college used as a control group.

4th week: Administration of pre-test achievement test and numeracy ability

test.

5th-9th weeks: Application of treatment on experimental and control group.

48

10th week: Administration of post-test.

The questionnaires were administered by the researcher.

1. In the first two weeks of the study the researcher personally visited the

participating lecturers who are the lecturers handling the Economics course in their

respective colleges and discussed with them what her research was all about.

2. In the third week, the researcher visited the college used as the control group for

briefing.

3. The fourth week was used for pre-test administration for all student teachers

participating in the study using the achievement test and numerical ability test.

4. The fifth to ninth week was used for the implementation of the treatment for the

experimental groups and the control group.

Procedure for Experimental Group 1: Reflective-Reciprocal Teaching Strategy.

Phase One: Preliminary Plan (teacher dominates)

Step 1: Student-Teachers were paired into heterogeneous small groups.

Step 2: The researcher provides student teacher with instructions on the content of

the topic.

Step 3: The researcher teaches them how to use the RRT strategies:

Predicting: Here the student teachers were encouraged by the researcher to

make guesses on what the text or topic is going to be about e.g. how can we

solve basic economics problems of our society? What is the importance of

scale of preference? What do you think will happen if we make use of it?

Questioning: „What‟, „why‟ and „how‟ questions will be asked by the researcher

about the section or text to build a shared understanding.

49

Clarifying: Misunderstandings, misconceptions, Economics terms, and

concepts are cleared by the research assistant.

Summarizing: At this stage the researcher helped the student- teachers to get

the main idea of the section, text or concept by summarizing it. E.g. what are

the most important concepts or idea we learned in this topic?

Step 4: Student teachers practiced the usage of the strategies in small groups while

the researcher facilitated their discussions and made necessary corrections where

applicable.

Phase Two: Briefing / Reflection

Procedure for Control Group 1: Modified Conventional Teaching Strategy.

Step1 : The research assistant introduces the lesson.

Step 2 : The research assistant explains the theoretical bases of the topic.

Step 3: The research assistance give the students class work

Step 4: The research assistant marks students‟ work.

Step 5: The research assistant concludes the lesson with corrections to students‟

work.

3.8 Method of data analysis


of proportions, frequencies, means and standard deviations, independent t- tests and





illustrations were used to explain such effects. The results obtained in this study are

as presented and discussed below. The sequence of the presentation and the

discussion of the results are in accordance with the hypotheses formulated for the

study.

50

3.9 Piloting of the instrument

The term „pilot studies‟ refers to mini versions of a full-scale study (also called

„feasibility studies‟), as well as the specific pre-testing of a particular research

instrument such as a questionnaire or interview schedule. Pilot studies are a crucial

element of a good study design (Hundley & van Teijlingen,2002). The researcher

went to a college far apart from the selected colleges for the study, to avoid

contamination. She administered all the instruments to them. The results of the pilot

study were used to review the items in the instruments. For example, the question

“would you say reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy has changed your attitude

towards Economics?” was re-structured into the three questions “I find learning

Economics interesting, I enjoy solving economics problems and, Economics as a

subject is very relevant to me” (see Section A; Appendix A1).

3.10 Ethicalconsiderations

The researcher applied for ethical clearance from the University of South Africa

(UNISA) according to UNISA policy.After the approval, the researcher requested

permission to conduct research from the ministry of education South West Nigeria.

After that the researcher wrote to the Deans of the Faculties of Education of the

selected Colleges of Education for permission. All the participants signed informed

consent forms. In the letters, the researcher assured all the participants of

confidentiality, anonymity, protection, voluntary participation and exit, before taking

part in the study.

Informed consent

After the completion of the study, an electronic summary of the findings of the

research will be made available to participants on request and copies will be

available in the libraries and an electronic version will be available on the internet.

Protection from harm

There is no anticipated risk. No foreseeable risks are associated with the completion

of the questionnaire and the achievement test, which is for research purposes.

51

Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity

The researcher let participants know that their names were not required and their

anonymity was assured; however, indication of their age, gender, etcetera would be

required to contribute to a more comprehensive analysis. All information obtained

from this questionnaire and achievement test will be used for research purposes only

and remain confidential. Their participation is voluntary and they have the right to

omit any question if so desired, or to withdraw from participating without penalty at

any stage.

3.11 Conclusion

In this chapter the researcher discussed the quantitative research methodology and

quasi-experimental research design, questionnaires, numerical ability test and

achievement test as research instrument, selection procedures, validity and

reliability, data analysis and ethical consideration. The next chapter will be on the

analysis and interpretation of results of the collected data.

52

CHAPTER 4 : PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

4.1 Introduction

This chapter focuses on the presentation of the results gathered from the field work.

The aim of the study was to measure the impact of RRT and CTI on second year

Economics studentteachers‟ achievement and attitudes towardEconomics. The study

had four objectives. Firstly to measure the impact of the reflective-reciprocal teaching

strategy on student teachers‟ academic achievements, numerical ability and attitudes

toward economics; secondly to determine if there a statistically significant difference

in the academic achievement in Economics scores of second year economics

student teachers taught using RRTcompared to those taught using CTI; thirdly to find

out how RRT affects the attitude of student teachers expose to the RRT strategy as

compares to the CTI strategy in Colleges of Education; and lastly to establish if

mode of entry affects academic achievement and attitudes of economics student

teachers at Colleges of Education.


of proportions, frequencies, means and standard deviations, independent t- tests and





illustrations were used to explain such effects. The results obtained in this study are

as presented and discussed below. The sequence of the presentation and the

discussion of the results are in accordance with the hypotheses formulated for the

study, as outlined in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1: Hypotheses tested

Hypothesis 1 H0: There is no significant difference between the academic achievement and numeracy ability of second year Economics student teachers who participate in the reflective-reciprocal teaching program (RRT) and those who do not.

H1: There is a significant difference between the academic achievement

53

and numeracy ability of second year Economics student teachers who participate in the reflective-reciprocal teaching program (RRT) and those who do not.

Hypothesis 2 H0: There is no statistically significant difference in the academic achievement of second year Economics student teachers taught using reflective-reciprocal teaching (RRT) compared to those taught using conventional teaching instructions (CTI).

H1: There is a statistically significant difference in the academic achievement of second year Economics student teachers taught using reflective-reciprocal teaching (RRT) compared to those taught using conventional teaching instructions (CTI).

Hypothesis 3 H0: There is no statistically significant differences using the reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy on the effect of attitude on student teachers‟ academic achievement.

H1: There is a statistically significant differences using the reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy on the effect of attitude on student teachers‟ academic achievement

Hypothesis 4 H0: There is no statistically significant differences using the reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy on the effect of mode of entry on student teachers‟ attitude towards Economics

H1: There is a statistically significant differences using the reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy on the effect of mode of entry on student teachers‟ attitude towards Economics

Presentation of the results will start with the sample characteristics in section 4.2,

followed by the results of the Economics attitude questionnaire which includes the

reliability of the instrument, descriptive statistics and validity of the instrument in

section 4.3. Section 4.4 discusses the distribution of the continuous variables and

the independent-tests and paired t-tests. The ANOVA models are discussed in

section 4.5 and also present the repeated measurements ANOVA results. The

chapter ends with the summary of findings and finally conclusion of the chapter in

section 4.6.

54

4.2 Characteristics of the sample

A total of 178 students participated in the study. The demographics characteristics of

the students are given in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2: Characteristics of the students

Variable Category Frequency %

Gender Male 104 60.1%

Female 69 39.9%

Total 173 100.0%

Group Control 85 47.8%

Experimental 93 52.2%

Total 178 100.0%

Mode of entry Direct 88 49.4%

Prelim 90 50.6%

Total 178 100%

A total of 173 students indicated their gender whilst 5 did not disclose. The ratio of

males to females was almost 3:2 as evidenced by the male proportion of 60.1% (n =

104) as compared to the female composition of 39.9% (n = 69).There are more male

studying Economics more than females at Colleges of Education. Gender does not

affect academic performance of Economics studentteachers atColleges of

Education.

The experimental group and control group were almost equal as evidenced by a

control group of 47.7% (n = 85) and an experimental group of 52.2% (85). About

49.4% (n = 88) had a direct mode of entry whilst 60.6% (n = 90) had a preliminary

mode of entry.

The average age was 21.76 years and the median was 22.00 years. The mean and

the median are almost the same suggesting that the distribution might be symmetric.

The summary statistics are shown in Table 4.3.The minimum and maximum ages

were 17 and 29 years respectively giving a range of 12 years. The standard

deviation was 2.3 indicating that 64% of the observations (within one standard

deviation) are between 19.47 and 24.05 years. The coefficient of variation was

10.54% indicating that the observations do not have much variability since it is close

to 0%. The box plot in Figure 4.3 shows that the maximum value 29 years is an

55

outlier. Removal of the outlier will make the distribution almost symmetrical. One can

conclude that the majority of the students are aged between 19 to 24 years. Age

does not affect academic achievement in economics.

Table 4.3: Summary statistics of age in years

Summary Statistics Overall

Mean 21.76

Median 22.00

Standard deviation 2.293

Skewness .215

Kurtosis -.368

Maximum 29

Minimum 17

Range 12

Coefficientof variation 10.54%

Figure 4.1: Histogram and box plot showing age of students

4.3 Data analysis of the economics instrument

The participants were asked 25 questions measuring their attitude on Economics.

Reliability of the questionnaire

The reliability of the instrument was found to be 0.857. According to Revelle and

Zinbarg (2009) if a reliability test result is greater than 0.8 it is classified as good. A

56

high value of Cronbach signifies that the items are measuring the underlying (or

latent) construct. Thus the instrument was reliable.

Descriptive analysis of the questionnaire

Student teacher‟s attitude.

The results were analysed in such a way that strongly agree was given a score of 4,

agree 3, disagree 2 and strongly disagree 1. The aspects “I feel nervous in

Economics class” and “the subject Economics has little relation to what I experience

in the real world” were reverse scored since they were in the negative direction. The

results of the descriptive statistics are presented in Table 4.4.

Table 4.4: Level of agreement on attitude statements on Economics

Attitude Statement Level of agreement Mean Rank

Agree Disagree

Q4. Economics is important to everyday life.

99.4%

(167)

1

(0.6%) 3.66

1

Q1. I have good feelings towards economics. 98.3%

(175)

1.7%

(3) 3.54 2

Q10. Economics as a subject is very interesting and enjoyable.

97.8%

(174)

2.2%

(4) 3.53

3

Q3. I really like Economics. 93.7%

(165)

6.3%

(11) 3.5 4

Q18. Skill used to understand Economics can be helpful to me in my everyday life.

97.7%

(173)

2.3%

(4) 3.48 5

Q13. Economics as a subject is relevant to me. 94.5%

(169)

4.5%

(8) 3.45 6

Q16. I study Economics to learn knowledge that will be useful in life outside of school.

96.4%

(171)

3.4%

(6) 3.45 7

Q11. I am capable of enjoying this subject. 93.1%

(162)

6.9%

(12) 3.43 8

Q24. My lecturer tried hard to make the subject interesting.

94.4%

(167)

5.6%

(10) 3.4 9

Q23. My lecturer was good at explaining things. 92.7%

(165)

7.3%

(13) 3.39 10

57

Q2. Economics as a subject is not difficult. 92.7%

(165)

7.3%

(13) 3.3 11

Q15. I really enjoy the theoretical content of Economics.

91.5%

(162)

8.5%

(15) 3.29 12

Q20. Knowledge about Economics will help me get a suitable job in future.

87%

(154)

13.0%

(23) 3.28 13

Q9. I understand Economics formulas and can apply them.

90.8%

(158)

9.2%

(16) 3.27 14

Q5. It is easy to understand Economics concept and theory.

90.3%

(159)

9.7%

(17) 3.22 15

Q14. I enjoy solving Economics problems. 87.9%

(153)

12.1%

(21) 3.17 16

Q22. Better at solving Economics problems. 87%

(154)

13%

(23) 3.17 17

Q25. Am better at working collaboratively. 86.2%

(150)

13.8%

(24) 3.16 18

Q7. The graphs help me to understand real world issues better.

86.4%

(152)

13.6%

(24) 3.14 19

Q12. To understand Economics, I discuss with friends and other students.

74.3%

(130)

25.7%

(45) 3.05 20

Q21. I prefer different teaching strategy. 78%

(138)

22%

(39) 2.99 21

Q8. I feel nervous in Economics class (*R). 59.6%

(102)

40.4%

(69) 2.62 22

Q6. There are not many graphs to be learnt. 51.1%

(89)

48.9%

(85) 2.53 23

Q19. It is possible to explain Economics without mathematics formulas.

47.8%

(85)

52.2%

(93) 2.47 24

Q17. The subject Economics has little relation to what I experience in the real world (*R).

36.7%

(65)

63.3%

(112) 2.24 25

“Economics is important to every everyday life”, “I have good feelings towards

economics” and “Economics as a subject is very interesting and enjoyable” had

means close to 4 indicating that the participants were in strong agreement.On the

other hand, the aspects “It is possible to explain Economics without mathematics

formulas” and “the subject Economics has little relation to what I experience in the

real world (*R)” had lower levels of agreement below 50%and the means were close

to two indicating that participants disagreed with the statements.

58

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA): Validity of the instrument

Exploratory factor analysis using the principal component method with a varimax

rotation was used to measure the validity of the instrument. According to Tabachnick

and Fidell (2014) factor analysis is applied where there is a theory about the

underlying structure or when the researcher wants to understand the underlying

structure. In this case the researcher believes that the attitude of students to

Economics is driven by a few underlying structures called factors.

The appropriateness of the factor analysis was determined using the Bartlett Test of

Sphericity and the Kaiser-Meyer Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy. The

Bartlett Test of Sphericity measures whether there is sufficient correlation to

proceed.An insignificant value of the Bartlett Test of Sphericity indicates lack of

sufficient correlation and a KMO with a value of 0.50 and above is considered

suitable for factor analysis (Tabachnick&Fidell, 2014; Hair, Babin, Black &Anderson,

2013). The latent root criterion was used to determine the number of factors to be

retained by taking factors with Eigenvalues more than one. According to Hair et al.

(2013), communalities should be above 0.5 or most of the variables should have

communalities above 0.6. Furthermore, Pallant (2007) indicated that the factor

solution is robust if the amount of variance explained is at least 50%.

A KMO of 0.828 was obtained and the Bartlett Test of Sphericity gave a p-value of

0.000 indicating that the solution was appropriate for factor analysis since KMO was

above 0.5 and Bartlett‟s Test of Sphericity was significant. The aspects “there are not

many graphs to be learnt”, “the graphs help me to understand real world issues

better” and “I enjoy solving Economics problems” had insignificant factor loadings

which were less than 0.5 whilst the aspect “Economics is important to everyday life”

and “I feel nervous in Economics class (*R)” were outliers where they were the only

elements in a factor not correlated with another aspect and were thus removed from

the analysis. The majority of the variables had communalities above 0.6. The factor

solution resulted in five factors as shown in Table 6. The factors accounted for

57.48% thus were a robust solution. The factors were named: Economics as a

59

subject, importance of economics, lecturers attitude, teaching strategy and

cooperative learning.

Table 4.5: Rotated factor solution of attitude attributes on Economics

Code Factors and observedvariables Loadings Eigenvalues % of variance

Factor 1: Economics as a subject 4.091 20.46%

Q11 I am capable of enjoying this subject. 0.714

Q3 I really like Economics. 0.706

Q5 It is easy to understand Economics concept and theory.

0.671

Q2 Economics as a subject is not difficult. 0.670

Q10 Economics as a subject is very interesting and enjoyable.

0.668

Q1 I have good feelings towards economics. 0.638

Q9 I understand Economics formulas and can apply them.

0.630

Q22 Better at solving Economics problems. 0.604

Q15 I really enjoy the theoretical content of Economics.

0.534

Factor 2: Importance of economics 2.369 11.84%

Q13 Economics as a subject is relevant to me.

0.747

Q16 I study Economics to learn knowledge that will be useful in life outside of school.

0.620

Q18 Skill used to understand Economics can be helpful to me in my everyday life.

0.609

Q20k Knowledge about Economics will help me get a suitable job in future.

0.567

Factor 3: lecturers‟ attitude 1.756 8.78%

Q23 My lecturer was good at explaining things.

0.852

Q24 My lecturer tried hard to make the subject interesting.

0.761

Factor 4: teaching strategy 1.733 8.67%

Q17 The subject Economics has little relation to what I experience in the real world (*R).

-.732

Q19 It is possible to explain Economics without mathematics formulas.

0.661

Q21f I prefer different teaching strategy. 0.510

Factor 5: cooperative learning 1.548 7.74%

Q12 To understand Economics, I discuss with friends and other students.

0.789

Q25 Am better at working collaboratively. 0.719

Total variance explained 57.48%

60

4.4 Economics attitude scale: independent t-tests and paired t-test

The independent t-tests were used to determine whether the Economics attitude

score, pre-test achievement score, post-test achievement score and numeracy ability

score differed by group and mode of entry. The paired t-test was then used to

determine whether the pre-test achievement test and post-test achievement test

differed by experimental group. All scores were expressed out of 100%. The

Economics attitude score was obtained by summing the 25 variables since each

variable could result in a maximum score of 4. The results are discussed in the

following sections. The 5% level of significance was used. A p-value less than 0.05

would lead to the rejection of the null hypothesis of equal means. When it came to

Economics attitude score both groups showed that they have a high attitude in

Economics as evidenced by means of 76.59% and 81.10% for control and

experimental groups respectively. The test was also highly significant with a p-value

less than 0.001. The confidence interval error bar is shown in Figure 4.3. The

experimental group had higher attitude score in Economics as compared to the

control group although both groups seem to have a positive attitude as the means

are above 50%.

The findings from this study revealed that student performance can be influenced by

attitudes and attitudes can, in turn, influence student performance. When students

take ownership of the classroom it‟s improves their performance. Students that have

the right attitudes and perceptions toward Economics as a course are able to excel

in the subject. Moreover, the findings also reveal that right attitude without suitable

teaching strategy may not improve the students‟ academic achievement in

economics.

Independent t-test to determine performance by group

An independent t-test was done to determine whether performance differed between

experimental and control groups on the four tests.The results are shown in Table

4.6. No difference in the pretest scores will indicate that before the intervention, both

groups were at the same performance level. The hypotheses to be tested are:

Ho: The means for the experimental group and control group are not the same

H1: The means for the experimental group and control group are the same

61

Table 4.6: Independent t-tests to determine difference in means of the tests by group

Variable Group Mean T-test p-value Decision

Pre-test achievement test Control 19.824 -.390 .697 Null hypothesis is not rejected

Experimental 20.591

Post-test achievement test

Control 44.471 -12.458** .000 The null

hypothesis is rejected

Experimental 83.118

Numeracy ability test Control 36.314 .590 .556 Null hypothesis is not rejected

Experimental 34.767

Economics attitude score Control 76.588 -4.016** .000 The null


Experimental 81.097

*p<0.05 and

** p<0.01

There was no difference between the experimental and control group on the pre-test

achievement tests and the numeracy ability tests. These tests were administered at

the same time and hence both groups were equal in performance. It can be

observed that the students performed dismally on the pre-test achievement test and

numeracy ability test. The averages of the numeracy pre-test were below 37% for

both groups whilst those of the achievement pre-test were below 21%. Economics as

a subject was only theoretical before the introduction of a new Economics syllabus

which incorporated some elements of Mathematics into the subject. The situation

has been posing serious problems for students in Senior Secondary School classes

partlyas a result of the carry over effects of the negative attitudes which they have

towards Mathematics and ineffectiveness on the part of the teachers. Therefore,

numeracy ability can affect the attitude and academic achievement of student

teachers in economics

62

+-

Figure 4.2: Confidence interval error bar showing differences in post-test achievement tests by group

Figure 4.3: Confidence interval error bar showing differences in Economic attitude score by group

Table 4.7:Independent t-tests to determine difference in means of the tests by mode of entry

Variable Group Mean T-test p-value Decision

Pre-test achievement test Direct 18.182 -2.065* .040 The null


Prelim 22.222

Post-test achievement test

Direct 68.750 1.953 .052 Null hypothesis is not rejected

Prelim 60.667

Numeracy ability test Direct 36.061 .419 .676 Null

63

Prelim 34.963 hypothesis is not rejected

Economics attitude score Direct 80.034 1.858 .065 Null hypothesis is not rejected

Prelim 77.878

*p<0.05 and

** p<0.01

Figure 4.4: Confidence interval error bar showing differences in pre-test by mode of entry

Paired t-test to determine difference of pre-test and post-test achievement

tests by group

Effect of reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy

Participants who wrote the pre-test were n=93 student teacher for the experimental

group and n=85 student-teachers for the control group. The researcher administered

the pre-test and the post-test in both groups to ensure similar conditions were

maintained. Both the pre-test and the post-test were marked out of 20marks each

and were written within one hour. After administering the pre-test, it took six weeks to

administer the interventions after which the post-test was administered.

Firstly, the paired t-tests were done by first obtaining differences between pretests

and post-tests. If the students performed the same in both tests, the differences

should be close to zero. The researcher first did a one-sample t test of the difference

which is equivalent to the paired t-tests. The test was done to determine whether the

differences were close to an average of zero. The results are presented in Table 4.8.

64

The mean difference was 44.44% and the t-test gave a p-value of .00. Thus there

was a difference between the pre-test and post-test outcomes.Further, the

differences were used to determine whether they differed by group and the test is

shown in Table 4.9. The mean differences for control are 24.647 whilst those for

experimental are 62.527. This is also evident in the confidence interval error bar in

Figure 4.5.There was no overlap between the two groups indicating the larger mean

difference between pre-test and post-test was obtained from the experimental group.

Table 4.8: One sample t-test of the differences

One-Sample Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Post-test achievement test - Pre-test achievement test

178 44.4382 30.52218 2.28773

One-Sample Test

Test Value = 0

t Df Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean Difference

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Lower Upper

Post-test achievement test - Pre-test achievement test

19.425 177 .000 44.43820 39.9235 48.9529

Table 4.9:T-tests to determine difference in means of the differences by group

Variable Group Mean differences

T-test p-value Decision

Post-test achievement test -Pre-test achievement test

Control 24.647 -10.322** .000 The null


Experimental 62.527

65

Figure 4.5: Confidence interval error bar showing mean differences by group

Paired t-test to determine difference of pre-test and post-test achievement

tests by mode of entry

In terms of the mode of entry, direct had mean differences that were higher than

those of prelim as shown in Table4.10. The average mean differences were 50.57

and 38.44 for direct and prelim respectively. The confidence interval error bar is

shown in Figure 4.6. There was no overlap between the two groups indicating the

larger mean difference between pre-test and post-test was obtained from the direct

mode of entry.This could be due to load of work on direct entry compared to total

units of courses offered by prelim students.

Table 4.10: T-tests to determine difference in means of the differences by group

Variable Group Mean differences

T-test p-value Decision

Post-test achievement test -Pre-test achievement test

Direct 50.568 2.696** .008 The null


Prelim 38.444

66

Figure 4.6: Confidence interval error bar showing mean differences by group

4.5 ANCOVA to analyze achievement test scores

Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is a hybrid between analysis of variance and

regression analysis. The analysis of covariance was used to eliminate the linear or

higher degree relation between one or more independent variables (called

covariates) and a dependent variable (post-test), with the main objective to be able

to determine the effect of factor(s) (treatment e.g. group, mode of entry) on the

dependent variable. It can be regarded as the simultaneous study of several

regressions. The dependent variable was post-test whilst the covariate was the pre-

test. In this case three ANOVAs were presented. The first had group as the fixed

factor and the second had mode of entry as the fixed and the third had group, mode

of entry and numeracy ability level as fixed factors. Numeracy ability level was

categorised into three categories. The participants were categorised as those who

scored 70% and above and were regarded as high ability; 50 – 69% as moderate

ability and below 50% as low ability. The data resulted in only two groups since there

was no one with a high ability in numeracy. There were 75.6% (n = 131) with a low

ability and 26.4% (n = 47) with an average ability.

67

In order to perform an analysis of covariance, one has to test the assumptions first.

As mentioned in Chapter 3 the ANCOVA has two assumptions, equal slopes and

equal variances. If the slopes are not equal, then an ANCOVA cannot be performed.

The assumptions was test in order to determine whether one couldproceed with the

analysis.

ANCOVA results with group as fixed factor

In this case the independent was group, the dependent was post-test and the

covariate was pre-test. The assumptions of equal slopes that are of homogeneity of

regression should be first tested. The assumption was tested and the following result

obtained. In this case the interaction was not significant as evidenced by a p-value of

0.863 which is greater than 0.05.Thus the differences in the post-test scores among

the groups do not vary as a function of the pre-test. An ANCOVA was now

performed and the test results obtained as shown Table 4.12.

Table 4.11: Testing assumptions of equal slopes of ANCOVA with group as independent variable

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Dependent Variable:Post-test achievement test

Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 66346.056a 3 22115.352 54.441 .000

Intercept 207906.198 1 207906.198 511.796 .000

Group 18278.203 1 18278.203 44.995 .000

Pre-test .012 1 .012 .000 .996

Group * Pre-test 12.212 1 12.212 .030 .863

Error 70683.719 174 406.228

Total 881300.000 178

Corrected Total 137029.775 177

a. R Squared = 0.484 (Adjusted R Squared = 0.475)

Table 4.12:Analysis of covariance to analyse achievement test scores with group as a fixed factor

Dependent Post-test

Sample size 178

68

Levene’s test for equality of error variances

F DF 1 DF 2 P

84.617 1 176 .000


Source Sum of Squares DF Mean Square F P

Corrected model 66333.844a 2 33166.922 82.101 .000

Intercept 214793.302 1 214793.302 531.697 .000

pre-test 0.944 1 0.944 0.002 .962

group 66262.005 1 66262.005 164.024 .000

Residual 70695.931 175 403.977

Total 881300.000 178


Coefficient of determination R2 .484

R2-adjusted .478

Estimated Marginal Means

Group n Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence interval

Control 85 44.473 2.181 40.169 to 48.776

experimental 93 83.116 2.085 79.002 to 87.230

Pairwise comparisons

Factors Mean difference Std. Error P

a 95% CI

a

Control - experimental -38.643 3.017 .000 -44.598 to -32.688

experimental - control 38.643 3.017 .000 32.688 to 44.598

aBonferroni corrected

Summary statistics for dependent variable and covariate(s)

Variable Mean Standard deviation

Post-test 64.663 27.824

Pre-test 20.225 13.200

The Levene‟s test for equality error variances was not met as evidenced by a p-value

= 0.000 < 0.05. Thus the assumption of equal variances was not met. However,

ANCOVA is robust to violations of the assumption of homogeneity of variances

provided the ratio of the largest group variance is not more than 3 times the smallest

group. In this case the criteria is satisfied. Thus we can proceed with the

interpretation of ANCOVA. The results of the F test support the effect of the RRT on

the achievement of second year Economics student teachers as evidenced by an F

value = 164.024 with a p-value = 0.000. Thus the null hypothesis is rejected and one

can conclude that RRT is more superior to the CTI. The post-hoc test was not used

69

since in this case there are only two groups. It can be noted that it gives similar

results to the F-test since there are only two groups. One can confirm that there is a

statistical difference between the achievement test results for students who were

taught using the RRT method and those taught using the CTI methods. Therefore,

learners taught using RRT performed better than those taught using CTI. The

amount of variability in the post-test scores explained by the model is 47.8%

(adjusted R2).

In terms of the post-test, the t-value was -12.458 with a p-value of 0.000 leading to

the rejection of the null hypothesis of equal means. The average for the control

group was 44.47% whilst that of the experimental was 83.125 as shown in Figure

4.2. There was no overlap between the two groups indicating that they performed

differently. The experimental group had an average indicating that the intervention

worked very well.In another words, students who received RRT performed better

than those who received CTI. The findings show that this strategy fosters positive

independence by teaching students to work and learn together in a small group

setting (Orlichet al., 2010). Students relaxed because they were in charge; this

affected their attitude towards Economics and increased their performance. Brewer

and Jozefowicz (2006) are also in agreement with the results from this study.

Therefore, RRT may be argued to be a possible solution to the poor performance of

Economics student teachers(Foster& Rotoloni,2005);Allan,

2003);Slavin,1991;1994;1996; Griffin &Griffin, 1997).

ANCOVA results with mode of entry as fixed factor

Effect of Mode of Entry on student-teacher’s achievement.

In this case the independent was mode of entry, the dependent was post-test and

the covariate was pre-test. The assumptions of equal slopes were met as shown in

Table 4.13. The F-value for the interaction was 1.725 with a p-value of 0.191. Since

0.191 was greater than 0.05, the assumption of equal slopes is met. Thus the

differences in the post-test scores among the groups do not vary as a function of the

pre-test. The results of the ANCOVA are shown in Table 4.14.

Table 4.13: Testing assumptions of equal slopes of ANCOVA with mode of entry as independent variable

70



Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.


Intercept 206442.933 1 206442.933 271.059 .000

Mode 3700.921 1 3700.921 4.859 .029

Pre-test 69.450 1 69.450 .091 .763

Mode * Pre-test 1313.806 1 1313.806 1.725 .191

Error 132521.345 174 761.617

Total 881300.000 178


a. R Squared = .033 (Adjusted R Squared = .016)

Table 4.14: Analysis of covariance to analyse achievement test scores with mode of entry as a fixed factor

Dependent Post-test

Sample size 178

Levene’s test for equality of error variances

F DF 1 DF 2 P

.368 1 176 .545


Source Sum of Squares DF Mean Square F P

Corrected model 3194.624a 2 1597.312 2.089 .127

Intercept 205293.658 1 205293.658 268.438 .000

pre-test 287.349 1 287.349 .376 .541

Mode 3122.785 1 3122.785 4.083 .045

Residual 133835.151 175 764.772

Total 881300.000 178


Coefficient of determination R2 .023

R2-adjusted .012

Estimated Marginal Means

Group n Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence interval

71

Direct 88 68.950 2.966 63.096 to 74.803

Prelim 90 30.472 2.932 54.684 to 66.259

Pairwise comparisons

Factors Mean difference Std. Error P

a 95% CI

a

Direct - Prelim 8.478 4.196 .045 .198 to 16.758

Prelim - Direct -8.478 4.196 .045 -16.758 to -.198

aBonferroni corrected

Summary statistics for dependent variable and covariate(s)

Variable Mean Standard deviation

Post-test 64.663 27.824

Pre-test 20.225 13.200

The Levene‟s test for equality error variances was met as evidenced by a p-value =

0.545 > 0.05. We can proceed with the interpretation of ANCOVA.

The results of the F test support the effect of RRT on the achievement of second

year Economics student teachers as evidenced by an F value = 4.083 with a p-value

= 0.045. Thus the null hypothesis is rejected and one can conclude that the RRT is

superior to CTI. The same conclusion was reached as above.

ANCOVA results with group, mode of entry and numeracy ability as fixed

factors

In this case the independents were group, mode of entry and numeracy ability, the

dependent was post-test and the covariate was pre-test. The assumptions of equal

slopes were met as shown in Table 4.15. In this case the interaction was not

significant as evidenced by a p-value of 0.485 which is greater than 0.05.Thus the

differences in the post-test scores among the fixed factors do not vary as a function

of the pre-test. An ANCOVA was now performed and the results obtained shown in

Table 4.16.

Table 4.15: Testing assumptions of equal slopes of ANCOVA with group, mode of entry and numeracy ability as fixed factors

72



Source

Type III Sum of

Squares df Mean Square F Sig.


Intercept 163212.023 1 163212.023 415.704 .000

Group 7350.171 1 7350.171 18.721 .000

Mode 160.439 1 160.439 .409 .524

Numeracy level 2401.277 1 2401.277 6.116 .014

Pre-test 455.839 1 455.839 1.161 .283

Group * Mode 519.198 1 519.198 1.322 .252

Group * Numeracy level 1053.152 1 1053.152 2.682 .103

Group * Pre-test 803.314 1 803.314 2.046 .155

Mode * Numeracy level 549.082 1 549.082 1.399 .239

Mode * Pre-test 66.903 1 66.903 .170 .680

Numeracy level * Pre-test 1577.746 1 1577.746 4.019 .047

Group * Mode * Numeracy level 142.226 1 142.226 .362 .548

Group * Mode * Pre-test 240.571 1 240.571 .613 .435

Group * Numeracy level * Pre-

test 932.810 1 932.810 2.376 .125

Mode * Numeracy level * Pre-

test 646.864 1 646.864 1.648 .201

Group * Mode * Numeracy level

* Pre-test 192.016 1 192.016 .489 .485

Error 63603.717 162 392.616

Total 881300.000 178


a. R Squared = .536 (Adjusted R Squared = .493)

Table 4.16: ANCOVA: Effects of treatment, mode of entry and numerical ability on students’ achievement in economics

Source Sum of Squares

DF Mean Square F Sig.

73


Pre-test 74.389 1 74.389 .184 .669

Main effect

Group 50168.112 1 50168.112 124.031 .000

Mode of entry 911.173 1 911.173 2.253 .135

Numerical ability 545.096 1 545.096 1.348 .247

2-way Interactions

Group x Mode of entry 297.253 1 297.253 .735 .393

Group x Numerical ability

.040 1 .040 .000 .992

Mode x Numerical ability

52.387 1 52.387 .130 .719

3-way Interactions

Group x Mode x Numerical

14.414 1 14.414 .036 .850

Error 68357.132 169 404.480

Total 881300.000 178

*Significant at P<0.05

Independent test to determine performance by mode of entry

In order to determine how the tests differed by mode of entry which were direct and

preliminary, the hypotheses tested were:

Ho: The means for the direct and prelim mode of entry are not the same

H1: The means for the direct and prelim mode of entry are the same

Table 4.16 showsthe results of the test. There was no difference between the direct

and prelim mode of entry in all tests except the pre-test. In terms of the pre-test

achievement the means for direct mode of entry and prelim mode of entry were

18.18% and 22.22%. Thus the preliminary was significant higher than the direct as

evidenced by the confidence interval error bars in Figure 6. There was not much

overlap between the two groups indicating thatthey performed differently. The prelim

had an average indicating that the group performed slightly higher than the direct.

This means that mode of entry does not have an effect on student teachers‟

academic achievement.

The results in Table 4.16 show that:

74

There is a statistically significant main effect of group on student teachers’

achievement inEconomics.

There is no statistically significant main effect of mode of entry on student teachers‟

achievement in Economics.

There is no statistically significant main effect of numerical ability on student

teachers‟ achievement in Economics.

There is no statistically significant interaction effect of „group‟ and „mode of entry‟ on

student teachers‟ achievement in Economics.

There is no statistical significant interaction effect of „group‟ and „numerical ability‟ on

student teachers‟ achievement in Economics.

There is no statistically significant interaction effect of „group‟, „mode of entry‟ and

„numerical ability‟ on student teachers‟ achievement in Economics.

Summarily the results above show that the main effect of the group on the

achievement of student teachers was significant at 5% significance level. Therefore,

we reject the null hypothesis and agree with the alternative hypothesis, while for the

remaining hypothesis on student teachers‟ achievement in economics we do not

reject the null hypothesis.

4.6 Summary and conclusion of the chapter

The study was conducted to measure the impact of the RRT on student teachers‟

academic achievements and attitudes toward Economics. The study followed a

quantitative research design method and used pre-test (achievement, attitude and

numerical ability tests) and post-test (achievement and attitude tests) questionnaires

to collect the data. Three research instruments were used for data collection. Four

null hypotheses were tested in the study. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with

descriptive analysis was used to process the data. From the results obtained, a

significant difference was found to exist in the achievement of student teachers in

Economics when taught using RRT compared to the CTI. The results also indicated

that significant differences were found to exist in the numerical ability of student

teachers on their learning outcomes. The results showed that the students with high

numerical ability level performed better than students of medium ability followed by

the low ability level. There is a significant interaction effect of mode of entry and

75

numerical ability on students‟ achievement in Economics. The summary results are

in Tables 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6 to 4.16 and also Figures 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5

and 4.6 while the detailed analysed results are presented in Appendix C.

76

CHAPTER 5 : SUMMARY, DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS,

LIMITATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND AREAS FOR

FURTHER RESEARCH

5.1 Introduction

In this chapter a review of the literature, the study results, and conclusions of the

study are presented. The results of the study are discussed and interpreted in terms

of the theoretical framework and the research questions. The chapter concludes with

recommendations andsuggestions for further related research.

5.2 Summary of chapters

Chapter 1: The background to the study, statement of the problem, research

questions, hypothesis and purpose of the study, the primary aim of the study,

secondary objectives, scope of the study, and significance of the study.

Chapter 2: The theoretical framework which made use of the Social Constructive

Theory, Social Cognitive Learning Theory and Reflective Theory.

Chapter 3: The research design, variables in the study, selection of participants,

instrumentation, research processes as well as methods of data analysis.

Chapter 4:Results of all analysed data.

Chapter 5:Summary, discussion of findings and limitations, thereafter, some

recommendations and areas for further research

5.3 Summary of main findings

The major issue addressed in this study was to measure the impact of RRT on

student teachers‟ academic achievement and attitude towards Economics in three

selected Colleges of Education. In addition, the study sought to find out any

77

interaction among the variables of treatment, numerical ability and mode of entry of

student teachers.

Student teachers‟ poor performance in Economics has been an issue attracting the

attention of researchers and educators in Economics (Walstad, 2001 and Becker

1994). The ineffectiveness is a result of low student teacher interaction. Students‟

failure to ask questions and the use of the lecture method were identified as the main

cause of poor achievement in Economics (Adu and Ayeni, 2004). They

demonstrated that achievement of candidates in Economics is not only poor

generally, but continues to fall over the years based on an appraisal of trends in

achievement of students in Economics. This is crucial for a subject as important as

Economics; it is a lively subject dealing with solving current and future

socioeconomic problems.

Being a lecturer at a college of education, the researcher can say that many student

teacher education programmes present students with theoretical information and

assume that this will sufficiently prepare them to obtain practical knowledge in their

initial years of practice that will eventually lead to a state of expert professional

knowledge. Our desired outcomes will not be achieved unless considerable changes

are made to student teachers‟ education programmes such as incorporating RRT in

the programme. Student teachers‟ poor performance in Economics has been an

issue attracting the attention of researchers and educators in Economics (Walstad,

2001 and Becker ,1994 ). The major factor considered is the instructional strategy

used in teaching the subject at the National College of Education (NCE) level which

does not produce a good level of achievement for student teachers. This is more so

as those strategies are not based on self-construction of knowledge, self-

assessment and social interaction among learners. As a result of the nature of

Dynamics which is a mathematically oriented concept Economics teachers‟ need to

be reflective and explore cooperative teaching strategies for teaching the subject.

The available confirmation from the last few years shows that passive learning based

on traditional strategy of “chalk and talk” are the most broadly used teaching

methods, characterizing the 20th century style of Economics teaching (Becker &

Watts, 2001; Benzing& Christ, 1997: Siegfriedet al., 1996).

78

It has been projected that helping student teachers know and learn more

meaningfully would enable these future teachers to encourage similar learning

outcomes in the school children for whom they would have responsibility in due

course (Brownlee,Purdie& Bouton-Lewis, 2001). These studies are in agreement

with the findings from the current study that RRT is viable to improve performance

and promote learning. Students who were instructed using cooperative learning

achieved significantly higher scores on the achievement and knowledge retention

post-tests than the students who were instructed using the conventional teaching

method. This strategy should, therefore, be used for teaching Economics at the

College of Education level (Agoro&Akinsola, 2013; Tran, 2014); a teacher needs to

be reflective and explore cooperative strategies in teaching this subject.

Lysynchuck, Pressley and Vye (1990), Rosenshine, Meister and Chapman (1996),

Taylor and Frye, (1992) andVan Den Bos, Brand-Gruwel and Aartnouse (1998) were

not in agreement with my study; they concluded that reciprocal teaching requires a

longer period of time and therefore was not enough time for students to transfer

strategies learned. Taylor and Frye (1992) discovered that there were no differences

between the experimental and control groups in their research. The current study

concluded that RRT is effective in motivating student teachers‟ attitude and

improving their academic performance in Economics compared to conventional

teaching strategy.

In their study Allan (2003) and Greenway (2002) were in agreement with my study.

They concluded that RRT was effective in motivating student teachers‟ attitude and

achievement towards Economics. The current study concluded that RRT is more

effective in motivating and improving Economics student teachers‟ attitude and

achievement towards Economics.

79

5.4 Findings

Research Question 1

How will reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy impact on student teachers’ academic

achievement, and numeracy ability toward Economics at the College of Education?

It was found from the numeracy ability test that the students performed dismally on

the pre-test achievement test and numeracy ability test. The averages of the

numeracy test were below 37% for both groups whilst those of the pre-test were

below 21%. Economics as a subject was only theoretical before the introduction of a

new Economics syllabus which incorporated some elements of Mathematics into the

subject. The situation has been posing serious problems for student teachers ‟partly

as a result of the carry over effects of the negative attitudes which they have towards

Mathematics when they were in high school and ineffectiveness on the part of the

teachers. Therefore, numeracy ability can affect the attitude and academic

achievement of student teachers‟ in Economics. (cf. Sections 4.4.1 & 4.4 Tables4.6)

Research Question 2

Is there a statistically significant difference in the academic achievement of

secondyear Economics student teachers’ taught using reflective-reciprocal teaching

(RRT) as compared to those taught using conventional teaching instructions (CTI)?

There was no difference between the experimental and control groups on the pre-

test achievement tests. These tests were administered at the same time and hence

both groups were equal in performance. It was found that the students performed

dismally on the pre-test achievement test.

However, in terms of the post-test, the t-value was -12.458 with a p-value of 0.000

leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis of equal means. The average for the

control group was 44.47% whilst that of the experimental group was 83.125% as

shown in Figure 4.2. There was no overlap between the two groups indicating that

80

they performed differently. The experimental group had an average indicating that

the intervention worked very well. (cf. Sections 4.1 and 4.4 and Table 4.6).

In other words, students who received RRT performed better than those who

received CTI. The findings show that RRT fosters positive independence and group

work by teaching students to work individually and as a small group. Students

relaxed because they were in charge; this positively affected their attitude towards

Economics and increased their performance. Brewer and Jozefowicz (2006) are also

in agreement with the results from this study. Therefore, RRT may be argued to be a

possible solution to the poor performance of Economics student teachers. (Foster &

Rotoloni (2005); Allan (2003); Slavin (1991); Griffin and Griffin (1997).

The results showed that RRT was effective in facilitating student teachers‟

achievement in Economics, depicting the traditional (conventional) method as less

effective in facilitating student teachers‟ achievement in Economics.Reflective-

reciprocal teaching is a student-centered instructional strategy where the students

and teachers switch roles in a lesson. Students took ownership of their role in

reciprocal teaching and they feel comfortable expressing their ideas and opinions in

open dialogue. Reflective-reciprocal teaching strategies provided a shared learning

experience which led to a higher quality of learning; it is also an effective technique

for increasing students‟ academic achievement.(cf. Sections 4.4.3 & 4.4, Table 4.8 &

4.9, Fig. 4.5).

Research Question 3

How does RRT affect the attitude of student teachers’ exposed to the RRT strategy

as compared to the CTI strategy in Colleges of Education?

With respect to Economics attitude score, both groups showed that they have a high

attitude in Economics as evidenced by means of 76.59% and 81.10% for control and

experimental group respectively. The test was also highly significant with a p-value

less than 0.001. The confidence interval error bar is shown in Figure 4.2. The

experimental group had a higher attitude score in Economics as compared to the

control group although both groups seem to have a positive attitude as the means

81

are above 50%. Students may have positive attitudes towards a subject but without

an appropriate teaching strategy, academic achievement may not be attainable. (cf.

Sections 4.3 & 4.4 Figure4.2).

Student teachers in the control group felt that CTI was not appropriate, it does not

facilitate learning, they would rather prefer group work, whereby outstanding learners

can assist the slow learners. The findings from this study revealed that students‟

performance can be influenced by attitudes and attitudes can, in turn, influence

student performance when students take ownership of the classroom. Students that

have the right attitudes and perceptions toward Economics as a course are able to

excel in the subject. This would further help them to gain knowledge of economics in

a more enjoyable manner and ultimately ease the learning process, therefore

students‟ attitudes in Economics as a course can be influenced by the type of help

provided by a reflective instructor as supported by the work of Brewer and

Jozefowicz (2006). On the other hand, learners in the control group felt that their

participation during lessons was limited and they wished it could be improved

through peer teaching, group discussions, and using different teaching methods.

RRT proved to be effective in motivating student teachers to have the right attitude

towards Economics (cf. Sections 4.5 & 4.6).

Similar results were obtained by Kettmann, Klingner and Sharon Vaughn (1996).

Therefore, the teaching method used by a teacher is one of the determinants for

students‟ negative or positive attitudes towards the course (Palinscar& Brown, 1984).

Research Question 4

Does mode of entry affect academic achievement and attitude of Economics student

teachers at Colleges of Education?

In order to determine how the tests differed by mode of entry which were direct and

preliminary, the hypotheses tested were:

Ho: The means for the direct and prelim mode of entry are not the same

H1: The means for the direct and prelim mode of entry are the same

82

Table 4.7 gives the results of the test. There was no difference between the direct

and prelim mode of entry in all tests except the pre-test. In terms ofthe pre-test

achievement the mean for direct mode of entry and prelim mode of entry were

18.18% and 22.22%. Thus the preliminary was significantly higher than the direct as

evidenced by the confidence interval error bars in Figure 4.4. There was not much

overlap between the two groups indicating that they performed differently. The prelim

modeof entry had an average indicating that the group performed slightly higher than

the direct mode of entry. According to Table 4.8, mode of entry does not affect

student teachers‟ academicperformance (cf. Sections4.4.2, Fig.4.4 &Table 4.7).

5.5 Conclusion

The aim of the current study was to investigate RRT and CTI on the attitude and

achievement of student teachers‟. The results of this investigation indicated that the

use of RRT positively influenced the attitude and improved student teachers'

performance. This teaching strategy is student centered. Students were in charge

and the interaction and learning went together. Therefore, RRT strategies are

effective in improving the achievement in and attitude of student teachers towards

Economics compared to CTI strategies. Also the results revealed the significance of

using this strategy on the numeracy ability of student teachers as per their learning

outcomes. The results showed that the students with high numerical ability level

performed better. There is no significant interaction on the effect of mode of entry

and numerical ability on students‟ achievement in Economics, meaning that the

students‟ mode of entry does not affect their academic achievement.

5.6 Recommendations

In view of the implications of the findings from the study, the following

recommendations are made:

It is recommended that the Federal and States‟ Ministries of Education should

inform all the lecturers in the Colleges of Education about RRT. This could be

achieved through workshops on the use of RRT.

83

Lectures at Colleges of Education should reconstruct their lesson plan to

accommodate RRT.

Numeracy ability should be prioritized, and the curriculum planner should

focus more on mathematics aspect of Economics.

Student teachers should be training with RRT in order to perform better

academically.

Student teachers should be training with RRT so as to make effective use of

RRT in the classroom in order to further enhance the achievement of their

future students in the subject.

When reviewing the book for college student teachers, RRT teaching strategy

should be included.

5.7 Limitations of the study

There are some factors which limited the generalization of the result of this study.

These include:

The present study was conducted in three Colleges of Education out of many

of such in the country;

The study was conducted only in public Colleges as there now many private

Colleges of Education;

Time limit was another constraint since the number of periods for some other

subjects must not be disrupted

5.8 Further studies

The following recommendations are made for further studies that a larger sample

size of the same population included on the effect of RRT in teaching Economics

students at Colleges of Education should be investigated so that the results can be

generalised to all Colleges of Education in Nigeria. Furthermore, exploring RRT in

84

teaching Economics a Colleges of Education in Nigeria using a case study design.

Lastly, using a mixed method design to investigate the effect of RRTcompared to

CTI in teaching Economics at Colleges of Education in Nigeria.

85

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93

LIST OF APPENDIXES

A1: Economics attitude questionnaire (EAQ)

A2: Instrument; Achievement test

A3: Instrument; Numerical ability test

B1: Informed consent letter for the Lecturers

B2:Informed consent form for the‟ lecturers

B3:Consent letter for the student-teachers

B4: Consent form for the student-teachers

94

APPENDIX A1: Economics Attitude Questionnaire

DearRespondent,

This questionnaire forms part of my master‟s degree (M Ed.) programme at the

University of South Africa. You have been selected from the population. Hence, I

invite you to take part in this survey.

The aim of this study is to measure the impact of reflective-reciprocal teaching

strategy on student teachers‟ academic achievement and attitude towards

Economics. The findings of the study will be of great value to the Colleges of

Education in Nigeria.

You are kindly requested to complete this survey questionnaire, comprising of two

sections honestly and frankly as possible and according to your personal views and

experience. No foreseeable risks are associated with the completion of the

questionnaire which is for research purposes only. The questionnaire will take

approximately 20 minutes to complete.

You are not required to indicate your name and your anonymity will be ensured;

however, an indication of your age, gender, mode of entry etcetera will contribute to

a more comprehensive analysis. All information obtained from this questionnaire will

be used for research purposes only and will remain confidential. Your participation in

this survey is voluntary and you have the right to omit any question, if so desired, or

to withdraw from answering this survey without penalty at any stage. After the

completion of the study, an electronic summary of the findings of the research will be

made available to you on request.

Permission to undertake this survey has been granted by the South West College of

Education‟s Dean and the Ethics Committee of the College of Education, UNISA. If

you have any research-related enquiries, they can be addressed directly to me or my

supervisor. My contact details are: +27780745065, email:

[email protected] my supervisor can be reached at +277124296201,

mailto:[email protected]

95

Department of curriculum and instructional studies, College of Education, UNISA, e-

mail: [email protected].

By completing the questionnaire, you imply that you have agreed to participate in this

research. Please return the completed questionnaire to me.

GENDER:

AGE:

NAME OF SCHOOL:

MODE OF ENTRY:

NO. OF YEAR IN THE INSTITUTION:

ECONOMICS Attitude Questionnaire (EAQ)

SECTION B: SA- Strongly agree, A-Agree, D-Disagree, SD- Strongly Disagree.

S/N SA A D SD

1 Economics isadifficultsubject

2 I feel nervous in Economics class

3 I really like to study Economics

4 Economics is important to everyday life

5

It is easy to understand Economics concept and

theory

6

I understand Economics formulas and can apply

them

7

Economics as a subject is very interesting and

enjoyable

8 Economics as a subject is relevant to me

9 I enjoy solving Economics problems

10 I really enjoy the theoretical content of economics

11

The subject Economics has little relation to what I

experience in thereal world

12

It is possible to explain Economics without

mathematicsformulas

96

13

During Economics concept we are able to learn

collaboratively

14

Knowledge about Economics will help me get a

suitable job in the future

15 Am better at solving Economics problems

16

My lecturer was good at explaining various

Economics concepts

97

APPENDIX A2: Student Teachers’ Achievement Test in Economics

SECTION A: Demographic Data

Name:

College:

Gender:

Mode of entry to college:

SECTION B: Multiple choice questions

1.1 What is the basic economics problem of the society?

A. What to transport

B. What to produce

C. What to purchase

1.2 Why do we study economics?

A. To manage learners

B. To allocate sources

C. To control government

1.3 Explain the term balance of payment surplus

A. When the total received is equal to total payment to other countries

B. When the total received from other countries exceed the total payment to

other counties

C. When the total payment to other country exceed the total received from

other country.

1.4 One of the problems of distribution of commodities in West Africa is?

A. Inadequate storage

B. National supply

C. Paper supply

1.5 Differentiate between opportunity cost and money cost

98

A. Opportunity cost is the goods you forgo while money cost is the total

money you spent

B. Money cost is the goods you forgo while opportunity cost is the total

money you spent

C. Opportunity cost isand money arethe same.

1.6 One of the factors that determines the efficient use of resources is

A. Quality of labour

B. Production processes

C. Capital goods

1.7What is the difference between public enterprise and private enterprise?

A. One is owned by the government and the other one is owned by an

individual

B. Both are owned by an individual

C. Both are owned by the government

1.8 What affects indigenous firms in West Africa?

A. Capital

B. Labour

C. Opportunity

1.9 Factors affecting demand for labour includes?

A. Skill and price

B. Structure and dependency

C. Attraction

1.10 One of the following is not a type of economic system

A. Systematic

B. Capitalism

C. Socialism

99

APPENDIX A3: The raw scores of 20 students of Bodija High

School

The raw scores of 20 students of Bodija High School who took part in an

examination in economics are given below:

38, 39, 12, 20, 18, 28, 20, 46, 34, 20, 70, 64, 52, 48, 64, 43, 66, 53, 69, 34

• What is the mean score of the student‟s marks?

• What percentage passed the examination?

• What percentage of the students failed the examination?

• What is the range of the scores?

• How many students scored below the mean score?

1. Distribution of workers at Tanko Ventures Limited is as follows:

Cleaners: 60

Messengers: 15

Drivers: 25

Typists: 20

Clerks: 30

Represent the above information using:

Pie chart,

Histogram and

Bar chart

100

2. The table below shows the age distribution of a hypothetical population

• Present this information in the form of a pie chart.

AGE NO OF PEOPLE IN (MILLION)

Under 20

20-29

35-59

60and above

20.90

13.75

12.10

8.25

3. Use the data in the table below to answer the questions that follow

Age group 1955 1950

0-16

17-45

46-60

Above 60

150

51

29

15

143

107

33

17

What is the percentage increase in the working population between 1955 and

1960?

Calculate the ratio of dependent population to the working population in 1955

Calculate the ratio of dependent population to the working population in 1960

Has the dependency ratio increased or decreased between 1955 and 1960?

4. A demand curve slopes downward from left to right, but this may not

always be so.

Explain this statement.

101

5. The daily sales of a department store for one week are as follows. Calculate

the average daily sales for the week using the table below

Days. Mon. Tue. Wes. Thur. Fri. Sat.

Sale 1,750 1000 3500 2250 1000 2500

6. Study the following extract on country Y’s population data and answer the

questions that follows:The population of country Y in 1970 was 60 million.

From 1971 to 1975, the total number of births was 25 million and deaths

stood at 3 million. 8million immigrants and 4 million emigrants were

recorded in the reporting period.

Present the above data in a table

Determine the net migration within the period

Calculate the population of the country in 1975

What is the percentage increase in the population of the country from 1970 to

1975?

7. Discuss the factors that should motivate a producer to supply more of a

commodity

102

APPENDIX B1: A consent letter to Economics student-teachers’

Lecturer

Research topic:MEASURING THE IMPACT OF REFLECTIVE–RECIPROCAL

TEACHING STRATEGY ON STUDENT-TEACHERS‟ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS ECONOMICS

Researcher:Mrs. GbemisolaOjo

Supervisor:Prof. M Van Wyk

Dear Economics Lecturer,

My name is GbemisolaMotunrayoOjo and I am registered with the University of

South-Africa (UNISA) for a degree of Master in Education (MEd), with a

specialization in curriculum and instructional studies, my supervisor is Prof. Micheal

Van Wyk.Tocomplete the MEd I am required to conduct a school-based research.

The topic of my research is measuring the impact of reflective-reciprocal teaching

strategy on student-teacher academics attitude and achievement towards

Economics.

The main purpose of this study is to establish a teaching method that is suitable to

improve students understanding and to improve their performance in Economics. In

order to do this, I wish to conduct a six-week lesson using two different teaching

methods, one of which could be offered by you. The two colleges will be divided into

experimental and control groups. I will teach my proposed new instruction in the

experimental group, and you could use your own traditional (usual) method in the

control group. The aim is to compare the two teaching methods to determine the one

which is more effective in teaching Economics student- teacher. I therefore request

you to be part of this research.

In case you agree to participate, you will be expected to administer a performance test

to your second year economics students, at the beginning and at end of the research.

The same test will be administered by me in the experimental group at both intervals.

We will teach the same content but use different methods to present it. The test scores

will be used to measure the influence of each teaching method on the performance of

103

students. Your name and those of your students will not be revealed.You will be

allowed to change your mind at any time, and to withdraw during the course of

research if you feel so. There are no known risks to you and to your students for

assisting me in this research.

In addition, each student will receive a consent letter from me to explain their

involvement in my research. They will also be allowed to choose if they want to

participate in the research or not.If you need more information please contact me by

phone at +2773 4700 729 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Please

contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss the work or to provide your consent

to participate.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Signature: _________________________

GbemisolaOjo

104

APPENDIX B2: An informed consent form for Economics student-

teachers’ Lecturer

Dear Mrs. Ojo,

I, ____________________________________________________________________,

the second year economics student teachers‟

lecturer_______________________________________ college of education,

acknowledge that I have received, read and understood the content of the request letter

that you sent me whichexplain your intentions to conduct research in my classroom. The

title of your research is: The impact of Reflective-Reciprocal teaching strategy on

student-teachers’ academic achievement and attitude towards Economics and the

purpose of the research is explained in the letter.

I therefore give consent/ do not give consent to participate in your research.

Teacher signature: _______________________________

Date: _______________________________

Researcher signature: _______________________________

Date: _______________________________

105

APPENDIX B3:AConsent letter to second year Economics student-

teachers

Research topic: The impact of reflect- reciprocal teaching strategy on student -

teacher‟s academics attitude and achievement towards economics

Researcher:Mrs. GbemisolaOjo

Supervisor:Prof. M Van Wyk

Dear Student-teacher,

I am doing a research study in order to establish a teaching method that is

suitable to improve your attitude and achievement in Economics. The title of my study

is reflective-reciprocal teaching strategy on student-teachers‟ academics attitude and

achievement towards Economics. The aim of this study is to equip you with the

knowledge of the role of socialization in teaching, and will become aware of reflective

-reciprocal teaching that you can use when you are practicing. In order to do this I

wish to conduct research with second year Economics student-teacher and because

you are one of them am requestingyou toparticipate in my research.

Although I will encourage you to be part of this research, but the participation

is voluntary. This means your decision to exclude yourself from this research will not

harm or disadvantage your academic progress, as well as your relationship with me.

Also, your decision to participate in this research does not entitle you to receive any

special benefit or gift from me. Therefore it means you can be a member of the class

but not be part of the research. So, it is up to you. If you say okay now, but you want

to stop later, that is fine and acceptable too. If you choose to participate in this

research you will be expected to do the following research activities: (1) write a pre-

study achievement test in Economics to help the researcher to measure the effect of

traditional method of teaching on you.You may also be requested to: (2) complete a

questionnaire on your attitude towards Economics. At the end of my teaching you will

also be requested to write another test (a post-test) to help me see the influence of

my teaching on your performance.

There is no risk in deciding to be part of this research. When I complete the research

I will write a report about what I found out. Your name will not be used in the report

106

and I promise to share the report of my findings with you. After that discussion I will

request you to complete the reply slip that I have included in this letter. Your reply

will indicate to me whether you want to be in this research or not.

If you need more information please contact me by phone at +27734700729 or by e-

mail at [email protected]. Please contact me at your earliest convenience to

discuss the work or to provide your consent to participate.

Yours sincerely,

Signature: ______________________

Mrs. Ojo

107

APPENDIX B4:Consent form for the student-teachers

108

APPENDIX C: Results of analysis

Table 1: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Treatment, Mode of entry and Numerical ability on Students’ Achievement in Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Achievement

Main effect

Treatment

Mode of entry

Numerical ability

2-way Interactions

Treatment x Mode of entry

Treatment x Numerical ability


3-way Interactions

Treatment x Mode x Numerical

Error

Total

944.956

.921

128.088

1.144E-02

.788

2.471

9.748

.274

.193

93.667

1038.622

12

1

2

1

1

2

2

1

2

77

89

78.746

.921

64.044

1.144E-02

.788

1.236

4.874

.274

9.671E-02

1.216

64.734

.757

52.648

.009

.648

1.016

4.007

.225

.079

.000

.387

.000

.923

.423

.367

.022

.636

.924

.910

.010

.578

.000

.008

.026

.094

.003

.002

(R-squared = 0.910, Adjusted R-Squared = 0.896)

Table 2: Estimated Marginal means of the Treatment, Mode of entry and Numerical ability on Students Achievement in Economics

Treatment groups Mode of entry Numerical ability Mean Std. Error

Federal college of Education, Oyo

UTME Poor

Good

18.266

18.039

.366

.418

NCE Poor

Good

18.211

17.267

.681

1.145

Federal college of Education, Abeokuta

UTME Poor

Good

15.195

16.715

.398

.373

NCE Poor

Good

15.092

16.469

.383

.656

Emmanuel Alayande College of education

UTME Poor

Good

9.872

9.852

.621

.433

NCE Poor

Good

10.594

10.498

.909

.623

109

Table 3: ANOVA showing the significant main effects of Treatment on Students’ Achievement in Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Achievement

Treatment

Error

Total

924.590

.434

185.635

114.032

1038.622

3

1

2

86

89

308.197

.434

92.817

1.326

232.433

.327

70.000

.000

.569

.000

.890

.004

.619


Table 4: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of the Treatment group on Students’ Achievement in Economics

Treatment groups Mean Std. Deviation

N

Federal College of Education, Oyo

Federal College of Education, Abeokuta

Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo

Total

17.93

15.70

10.30

14.64

0.98

1.51

0.84

3.42

30

30

30

90

Table 5: Scheffe Post-Hoc Multiple Comparison of the Treatment group on Students’ Achievement in Economics

• Treatment groups

(J) Treatment groups Mean difference

Std. Error

Sig.

Federal College of Education Oyo


2.23* .30

.000


7.63* .30 .000



-2.23* .30 .000


5.40* .30 .000



-7.63* .30 .000


-5.40* .30 .000

110

Table 6: ANOVA showing the significant main effects of Mode of entry on Students’ Achievement in Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Achievement

Mode of entry

Error

Total

741.013

740.728

2.058

297.609

1038.622

2

1

1

87

89

370.507

740.728

2.058

3.421

108.310

216.537

.602

.000

.000

.440

.713

.713

.007

Table 7: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Mode of entry on Students’ Achievement in Economics

Mode of entry Mean Std. Deviation N

UTME

NCE

Total

14.68

14.55

14.64

3.62

2.76

3.42

68

22

90

Table 8: ANOVA showing the significant main effects of Numerical ability on Students’ Achievement in Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect Size

Corrected Model

Pre Achievement

Numerical ability

Error

Total

742.863

675.193

3.908

295.759

1038.622

2

1

1

87

89

371.431

675.193

3.908

3.400

109.260

198.614

1.149

.000

.000

.287

.715

.695

.013


Table 9: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Numerical ability on Students’ Achievement in Economics

Numerical ability Mean Std. Deviation N

Poor

Good

Total

15.57

13.83

14.64

2.91

3.65

3.42

42

48

90

Table 10: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Treatment and Mode of entry on Students’ Achievement in Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

111

Corrected Model

Pre Achievement

Main effect

Treatment

Mode of entry

2-way Interactions


Error

Total

929.537

.404

146.781

2.906E-02

4.729

109.085

1038.622

6

1

2

1

2

83

89

154.923

.404

73.391

2.906E-02

2.364

1.314

117.876

.307

55.841

.022

1.799

.000

.581

.000

.882

.172

.895

.004

.574

.000

.042


Table 11: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Treatment group and Mode of entry on Students’ Achievement in Economics

Treatment groups Mode of entry Mean Std. Deviation N


UTME

NCE

Total

17.96

17.75

17.93

1.00

0.96

0.98

26

4

30


UTME

NCE

Total

15.94

15.33

15.70

1.51

1.50

1.51

18

12

30


UTME

NCE

Total

10.17

10.83

10.30

0.87

0.41

0.84

24

6

30

Total UTME

NCE

Total

14.68

14.55

14.64

3.62

2.76

3.42

68

22

90

Table 12: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Treatment and Numerical ability on Students’ Achievement in Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Achievement

Main effect

Treatment

Numerical ability

2-way Interactions


Error

Total

942.094

.987

170.724

2.660

13.956

96.528

1038.622

6

1

2

1

2

83

89

157.016

.987

85.362

2.660

6.978

1.163

135.011

.849

73.399

2.287

6.000

.000

.359

.000

.134

.004

.907

.010

.639

.027

.126


112

Table 13: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Treatment group and Numerical ability on Students’ Achievement in Economics

Treatment groups Numerical ability Mean Std. Deviation N


Poor

Good

Total

18.06

17.75

17.93

0.94

1.06

0.98

18

12

30


Poor

Good

Total

15.06

16.54

15.70

1.25

1.45

1.51

17

13

30


Poor

Good

Total

10.43

10.26

10.30

0.98

0.81

0.84

7

23

30

Total Poor

Good

Total

15.57

13.83

14.64

2.91

3.65

3.42

42

48

90

Table 14: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Mode of entry and Numerical

ability on Students’ Achievement in Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Achievement

Main effect

Mode of entry

Numerical ability

2-way Interactions


Error

Total

746.302

672.966

3.210

3.530

3.034E-02

292.320

1038.622

4

1

1

1

1

85

89

186.576

672.966

3.210

3.530

3.034E-02

3.439

54.252

195.683

.933

1.027

.009

.000

.000

.337

.314

.925

.719

.697

.011

.012

.000


Table 15: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Mode of entry and Numerical ability on Students’ Achievement in Economics

Mode of entry Numerical ability Mean Std. Deviation N

UTME Poor

Good

Total

15.82

13.88

14.68

3.10

3.78

3.62

28

40

68

NCE Poor

Good

Total

15.07

13.63

14.55

2.50

3.11

2.76

14

8

22

Total Poor

Good

Total

15.57

13.83

14.64

2.91

3.65

3.42

42

48

90

113

Table 16: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Treatment, Mode of entry and Numerical ability on Students’ Attitude to Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Attitude

Main effect

Treatment

Mode of entry

Numerical ability

2-way Interactions




3-way Interactions

Treatment x Mode x Numerical

Error

Total

2546.510

1.730

1495.276

74.243

91.553

71.453

326.230

119.948

173.918

4075.890

6622.400

12

1

2

1

1

2

2

1

2

77

89

212.209

1.730

747.638

74.243

91.553

35.727

163.115

119.948

86.959

52.934

4.009

.033

14.124

1.403

1.730

.675

3.082

2.266

1.643

.000

.857

.000

.240

.192

.512

.052

.136

.200

.385

.000

.268

.018

.022

.017

.074

.029

.041


Table 17: Estimated Marginal means of the Treatment, Mode of entry and Numerical ability on Students Attitude to Economics

Treatment groups Mode of entry Numerical ability Mean Std. Error


UTME Poor

Good

86.657

86.930

1.905

2.197

NCE Poor

Good

93.066

92.856

4.216

7.319


UTME Poor

Good

75.183

77.519

2.599

2.344

NCE Poor

Good

76.009

76.596

2.490

4.219


UTME Poor

Good

84.750

83.391

3.265

1.720

NCE Poor

Good

94.958

76.315

5.150

3.655

114

Table 18: ANOVA showing the significant main effects of Treatment on Students’ Attitude to Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Attitude

Treatment

Error

Total

1916.331

17.864

1794.251

4706.069

6622.400

3

1

2

86

89

638.777

17.864

897.126

54.722

11.673

.326

16.394

.000

.569

.000

.289

.004

.276


Table 19: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of the Treatment group on Students’ Attitude to Economics

Treatment groups Mean Std. Deviation N

Federal College of Education, Oyo



Total

87.5667

76.4333

83.4000

82.4667

7.2191

6.6056

8.1942

8.6261

30

30

30

90

Table 20: Scheffe Post-Hoc Multiple Comparison of the Treatment group on Students’ Attitude to Economics

• Treatment groups

(J) Treatment groups Mean difference

Std. Error

Sig.



11.1333* 1.9026 .000

Emmanuel AlayandeCollege of Education, Oyo

4.1667 1.9026 .097



-11.1333* 1.9026 .000


-6.9667* 1.9026 .002



-4.1667 1.9026 .097


6.9667* 1.9026 .002

Table 21: ANOVA showing the significant main effects of Mode of entry on Students’ Attitude to Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Attitude

Mode of entry

Error

Total

162.071

99.436

39.992

6460.329

6622.400

2

1

1

87

89

81.036

99.436

39.992

74.257

1.091

1.339

.539

.340

.250

.465

.024

.015

.006


115

Table 22: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Mode of entry on Students’ Attitude to Economics

Mode of entry Mean Std. Deviation N

UTME

NCE

otal

82.9412

81.0000

82.4667

8.3913

9.3656

8.6261

68

22

90

Table 23: ANOVA showing the significant main effects of Numerical ability on Students’ Attitude to Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Attitude

Numerical ability

Error

Total

141.953

131.366

19.874

6480.447

6622.400

2

1

1

87

89

70.977

131.366

19.874

74.488

.953

1.764

.267

.390

.188

.607

.021

.020

.003


Table 24: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Numerical ability on Students’ Attitude to Economics

Numerical ability Mean Std. Deviation N

Poor

Good

Total

82.8333

82.1458

82.4667

9.1915

8.1840

8.6261

42

48

90

Table 25: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Treatment and Mode of entry on Students’ Attitude to Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Attitude

Main effect

Treatment

Mode of entry

2-way Interactions


Error

Total

2056.660

15.195

1716.973

33.838

129.177

4565.740

6622.400

6

1

2

1

2

83

89

342.777

15.195

858.486

33.838

64.589

55.009

6.231

.276

15.606

.615

1.174

.000

.601

.000

.435

.314

.311

.003

.273

.007

.028


116

Table 26: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Treatment group and Mode of entry on Students’ Attitude to Economics

Treatment groups Mode of entry Mean Std. Deviation N


UTME

NCE

Total

86.7308

93.0000

87.5667

7.3297

3.2660

7.2191

26

4

30


UTME

NCE

Total

76.5556

76.2500

76.4333

7.4693

5.3619

6.6056

18

12

30


UTME

NCE

Total

83.6250

82.5000

83.4000

7.5401

11.2561

8.1942

24

6

30

Total UTME

NCE

Total

82.9412

81.0000

82.4667

8.3913

9.3656

8.6261

68

22

90

Table 27: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Treatment and Numerical ability on Students’ Attitude to Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Attitude

Main effect

Treatment

Numerical ability

2-way Interactions


Error

Total

2092.619

2.997

1736.239

36.187

158.863

4529.781

6622.400

6

1

2

1

2

83

89

348.770

2.997

868.119

36.187

79.432

54.576

6.391

.055

15.907

.663

1.455

.000

.815

.000

.418

.239

.316

.001

.277

.008

.034

(R-squared = .316, Adjusted R-Squared = 0.267)

Table 28: Table showing the Descriptive statistics of Treatment group and Numerical ability on Students’ Attitude to Economics

Treatment groups Numerical ability Mean Std. Deviation N


Poor

Good

Total

87.6667

87.4167

87.5667

7.0042

7.8446

7.2191

18

12

30


Poor

Good

Total

75.7059

77.3846

76.4333

7.1830

5.9096

6.6056

17

13

30


Poor

Good

Total

87.7143

82.0870

83.4000

7.6749

8.0448

8.1942

7

23

30

Total Poor

Good

Total

82.8333

82.1458

82.4667

9.1915

8.1840

8.6261

42

48

90

117

Table 29: ANOVA showing the significant interaction effects of Mode of entry and Numerical ability on Students’ Attitude to Economics


DF Mean Square

F Sig. Eta2/ Effect

Size

Corrected Model

Pre Attitude

Main effect

Mode of entry

Numerical ability

2-way Interactions


Error

Total

255.503

113.871

70.707

80.313

61.021

6366.897

6622.400

4

1

1

1

1

85

89

63.876

113.871

70.707

80.313

61.021

74.905

.853

1.520

.944

1.072

.815

.496

.221

.334

.303

.369

.039

.018

.011

.012

.009

(R-squared = .039, Adjusted R-Squared = .007)

Table 30: showing the Descriptive statistics of Mode of entry and Numerical ability on Students’ Attitude to Economics

Mode of entry Numerical ability Mean Std. Deviation N

UTME Poor

Good

Total

83.0357

82.8750

82.9412

8.8756

8.1498

8.3913

28

40

68

NCE Poor

Good

Total

82.4286

78.5000

81.0000

10.1278

7.8376

9.3656

14

8

22

Total Poor

Good

Total

82.8333

82.1458

82.4667

9.1915

8.1840

8.6261

42

48

90

academic achievement and attitude

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